With Great Power
by Ophelia Lokisdottir
Summary: When Natalie Fisher is struck by lightning containing a mysterious energy, she is brought to S.H.I.E.L.D. She soon discovers that she has been granted powerful abilities. The only question is, can she learn to control them when a certain mischeivous god threatens the safety of the world? COMPLETED
1. Strike

Natalie stood impatiently at the park gates, looking up and down the city block, searching for Amy's familiar head of raven-dark hair. She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her messages. _I said five o' clock, right?_ She found the message. _Yes I did._ Looking up at the darkening clouds, she touched Amy's name on the screen and held the phone to her ear. It rang four times, then Amy's answering message played.

"Hey, it's Amy. Sorry I missed you, leave a message and I'll talk to you ASAP! Bye!" _Beep._ Natalie sighed.

"Amy? It's Natalie. I'm at the park, but it looks like rain, so unless you're close, I think I'm going to leave. See you later?" She shut off her phone but it rang again almost immediately.

"Hello?"

"Lee? It's Amy! Oh my god, I'm so sorry I'm not there! My grandma showed up at my house today and told me that we were going shopping and you've met my grandma and you _know_ what she's like and-"

"Amy? Please breathe. It's okay. Yes, I do know what your grandma's like. I totally understand."

"But we never get to spend time together because of your early college enrollment thingy and we've been planning this for, like, a _week_!"

"I know, but stuff happens. As it happens I think I'm free next Saturday, let's do something then."

"Okay, but I still feel really bad-"

"I'm telling you, it's okay, Amy."

"Okay. Let's go to a movie. I'm buying."

"Sounds good to me. See you then!"

"Bye, Lee!" Natalie turned off her phone and looked up at the dark clouds forming in the sky. Directly over her head was a large cloud. The cloud was a strange shade of deep purplish-black. Her eyebrows furrowed. She shook her head and headed into the park, down the path that would let her exit near the college campus. She was about a quarter mile from the exit when it happened.

The hairs on her arms stood up and there was a strange metallic smell in the air. There was a blinding purple flash and a loud rumble. She felt as though something had struck her in the small of the back. She felt woozy. Her entire body was buzzing. Her vision was fuzzy. Then she collapsed on the damp ground.

_A short time earlier and a few thousand feet higher…_

A tall, bald African-American man wearing a black coat and eye patch stood on a balcony over looking a field of computers and high tech screens. He was talking quietly to a woman standing on his right. The woman had brown hair pulled back into a bun and wore a sleek dark blue uniform with a silver and black eagle logo on the sleeve. On his other side stood a young man with close-cut dark blond hair. He wore a black and maroon vest, black pants and black boots. Strapped to his back was a quiver of arrows. He was looking out the window ahead at the large purplish cloud. All was quiet…

A round of beeping from one of the computers drew the attention of the three people on the balcony. The woman working at the computer silenced the beeps and turned to look at the tall man.

"Director Fury! The energy is gathering inside the cloud. I think there's going to be-" There was a bright purple flash and an earsplitting rumble. The room shook and the three people on the balcony were thrown to the floor. Fury was the first one standing again.

"Report!" he said in a calm yet commanding tone. The woman who had spoken before touched the screen she was stationed at before turning to Fury.

"The energy was transmitted down to the ground in that lightning strike. It's collected in a small area in the park below us." Fury turned to the blond man next to him.

"Agent Barton, I need you to head down to the park. Find out what happened to the energy mass. If it can be collected, radio back for a collection team and we'll send one down."

Barton nodded, turned and walked through the set of doors behind him. He walked quickly down a hallway to a set of polished steel sliding doors and slid a key card into a slot on the wall next to them. They opened smoothly, revealing a small elevator. He stepped inside and pressed a button marked HANGAR. The elevator traveled down and the doors opened again. Barton stepped out into a large room full of different aircrafts. He went over to a small jet that waited near the launch doors. Once inside, he strapped himself into the pilot's seat and started the engine. The launch doors opened and the jet lifted off the floor and soared down through the large opening. The quinjet made a graceful turn once out of the belly of the ship and flew off over the park.

It was fairly obvious as to where the energy had concentrated. A purple glow on the ground was clearly visible. Barton brought the jet down several yards from the glowing spot. He cautiously exited and squinted into the glow, but even as he shielded his eyes, the glow began to noticeably fade. He touched his earpiece.

"Fury? The energy looks like it's fading but… Oh my god…" he trailed off.

"What is it, Hawkeye?" asked Fury in his ear.

"The energy mass…it's in…there's a _girl_."

**Hi everyone! Thanks for checking out the first chapter in my story. If the plot intrigues you and you want more, please review! **

**-The Bookworm**


	2. SHIELD

**Hello readers! Welcome to chapter 2! I hope that most of my updates aren't spaced as far apart as this one was, hopefully closer to two or three days apart, depending on when I can work on the story. Also I apologize if Coulson is a bit OOC; I don't know his character very well. And I suppose I should take care of copyright blah blah, so…I don't own the Avengers or any Marvel characters, only Natalie Fisher. Enjoy!**

_Natalie struggled through the dark water toward the dim light above her. Closer…closer…_come on, Natalie_…her head broke the surface…_

Natalie's eyes flew open with a gasp. She stared up at the white lights on the ceiling above her head, trying to make sense of the thoughts flying through her head. _Okay. I was in the park. Now I'm in a hospital of some sort. What happened…. _She began sitting up, and felt a painful stinging in her lower back. It felt like when she had accidentally grabbed a hot pan off the stove, only on a larger scale.

"Oww…" she groaned. She waited for the pain to subside and slowly worked her way into a sitting position. She looked around. She was sitting in a hospital bed and wore a light cloth shirt and pants. The room she was in was large. And slightly blurry. Natalie touched the bridge of her nose. Her glasses were missing. She squinted around the room. A movement out of the corner of her eye turned her head. A door was sliding open at the end of the room. Two men appeared in the doorway. One was slightly older, with brown hair and wore a suit. He carried a duffel bag over one shoulder. The other was younger, with dark blond hair and was dressed all in black. Something, Natalie couldn't make out what, was strapped to his back. Natalie warily regarded the blurry figures. The man in the suit walked over to her bed and held out a pair of glasses.

"I believe these are yours, Miss Fisher." Natalie took the proffered pair of glasses that she recognized as her own. She unfolded them and slid them on.

"Thank you…"she said hesitantly. The man in the suit nodded. Natalie was about to ask how he knew her name and where she was, but the man beat her to it.

"I'm Phil Coulson. I'm an agent of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. We usually just call it S.H.I.E.L.D. We're a secret military and law-enforcement agency. You're here because you were struck by lightning that contained an energy signature we were tracking. The energy was transferred to you in the strike."

"Transferred. Okay…" said Natalie. "Well, I was going to ask how you knew my name but now that seems a bit unnecessary."

Coulson smiled. "You're not just average either. You have a high level of intelligence that's gotten you in the news recently, you know." Natalie gave a half smile.

"How exactly did I get here?" said Natalie.

"Agent Barton-" Coulson gestured to the other man, who had been standing near the doorway- "was sent down when the lightning struck and found you in the park." Barton lifted a hand in greeting. Something Coulson had said struck Natalie as slightly odd.

"What do you mean, sent _down_?" asked Natalie. "Down from where?" Agent Coulson gestured to the other end of the room. There was a large window Natalie had not noticed before. Natalie's eyes widened. Outside the window was nothing but blue sky and a few wispy white clouds.

"What…" Natalie trailed off.

"Welcome to the medical section of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. A flying aircraft carrier and our mobile base, so to speak. It was designed with the help of Tony Stark."

Natalie raised her eyebrows. "Tony Stark? As in Stark Industries?"

Agent Coulson nodded. "We approached Tony a while back about helping us with the design, before the all of the Iron Man hoopla a few years ago." Natalie nodded.

"So, um, what does this mean? Having this… energy signature inside of me?" asked Natalie.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. was tracking the energy. Our scientists think it may be connected to another project we have going on right now. They want to make sure the energy doesn't have any adverse effects," explained Coulson.

"Right," said Natalie. Coulson set the duffel bag down on the bed.

"Here's a change of clothes. Your shirt was charred pretty badly in the strike."

"I can imagine," said Natalie.

"Why don't you get changed and meet me outside. I think you should meet Director Fury." With that, he and Barton exited the room.


	3. The Research Facility

**Hello again! So I was absolutely wrong, updates will definitely not come as frequently as I promised. However, I will try my hardest not to make it more than a week, and the chapters will hopefully be longer. Also I don't own the Avengers characters or storyline. So enjoy Chapter Three!**

Natalie swung her legs off the bed and stood up, wincing slightly at the stinging in her back. She opened the bag and dumped out the contents. A black shirt, jeans, along with some undergarments fell out, followed by a familiar pair of purple Converse. Natalie smiled upon seeing her shoes. Natalie picked up the shirt and held it out in front of her. It had long sleeves and was plain, save for the silver eagle logo on the right shoulder. Natalie quickly dressed. As she did so, she twisted around to look at her back. There was an angry red patch about the size of her hand on her lower back.

"Wonder how long that's going to last?" muttered Natalie. She pulled on the shirt and pants and slipped on the high-tops. She ran her fingers through her hair in some attempt to make it not look like she had just woken up. Which she had. She walked to the door Coulson and Barton had exited through. It slid open automatically to reveal Coulson and Barton leaning against the opposite wall.

"Ready?" asked Coulson. Natalie nodded. "Then follow me," he said, and walked off down the hallway. Natalie followed him, with Barton walking alongside her. She noticed that the object on his back was a quiver of high-tech arrows. As they walked, he looked at her.

"I feel like we haven't really been properly introduced. I mean, I know your name and you sort of know mine, but…" He held out his hand. "Clint Barton." Natalie shook his hand.

"Natalie Fisher, but my friends call me Lee." Clint smiled. "Well, it's nice to really meet you, Lee."

"Thanks for, you know, saving my life." said Natalie with a half smile.

"That was the S.H.I.E.L.D. medics, not me," replied Clint.

"Yeah, but you found me," countered Natalie.

"Touché," grinned Clint. Natalie smiled. Coulson had stopped ahead of them, standing in front of a set of automatic doors with the silver eagle logo emblazoned across them. He took a silver and black card from his pocket and looked at Natalie.

"Welcome to where it all happens," he said as he swiped the card through a reader next to the door. The doors slid open. Coulson walked inside, followed by Clint, who gestured for Natalie to follow him. Natalie walked into an enormous room. She, Clint and Coulson stood on a balcony overlooking several dozen computers and technicians. Her eyes were drawn ahead of her to the massive arcing window that took up the entire front of the room.

"This is incredible," she murmured as she followed behind Clint. He smiled.

"It's something you never really get used to. I still come in here sometimes and think how amazing this all is." They came to a small flight of stairs and descended. "The technology that S.H.I.E.L.D. has is astounding." Coulson walked toward the base of the window where an African-American man stood looking out with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Director Fury," said Coulson. The man turned. He wore a black leather coat and black clothes underneath. He had an eye patch over his left eye. And he simply radiated authority. Natalie could tell exactly why he was the director. He walked toward them.

"Agent Coulson. Agent Barton." He nodded to both of them and turned to Natalie. "Welcome, Miss Fisher. I'm Nick Fury, the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I assume Agent Coulson has already told you about the energy signature we were tracking?" he asked.

"Yeah, he said it was similar to another project you have going on?" Natalie replied, remembering what Coulson had told her in the medical bay. Fury nodded.

"We're headed back to one of our research facilities now. That's where the project is located. You'll be disembarking from the Helicarrier along with Coulson and Barton."

"What about Agent Hill?" Barton spoke up.

"She's already at the facility. I sent her ahead earlier," replied Fury. "She's expecting you soon, actually. You'd better get going." Coulson nodded.

"We were headed to the hangar after coming here. I'll let you know when we get the facility." He turned, motioning for Natalie to follow. They went back up the flight of stairs and exited the control center. Coulson went the opposite direction from the way they had come, over to a set of elevator doors. Coulson took out his key card again and slid it into another reader. The doors rolled open and the three of them stepped inside. Barton pushed a button marked HANGAR and Natalie felt the elevator travel downward. It felt like at least three stories had passed when the doors slid open again to reveal another massive room full of aircraft.

"Are _all_ the rooms on this ship this big?" Natalie muttered. Clint grinned.

"Nope. Some of them are bigger." Natalie's eyes widened until she realized that Clint was joking. He led the way to a row of small jets.

"These are the S.H.I.E.L.D. quinjets," said Coulson. "We use them for transport, so the Helicarrier doesn't have to fly everywhere." Natalie nodded appreciatively. Clint walked over to one and opened a ramp door in the back. He walked inside. Coulson and Natalie followed him inside, where Natalie found him in the pilot's seat, wearing a headset. Coulson pulled a seat down from the wall and gestured for Natalie to do the same. She pulled the belt harness across her shoulders and fastened it. Clint was flipping switches and turning dials in the front.

"Everyone ready back there?" he said, looking over his shoulder. Natalie nodded.

"All righty then," he said, pressing a button. Natalie heard a quiet hum from the engines of the jet and felt a small vibration through her seat. The jet lifted off smoothly and sailed through an open hatch in the wall. Natalie leaned forward in her seat to look out the front window. She couldn't see much, just the azure sky ahead, streaked with wispy white clouds. She sat back; suddenly overwhelmed by the day so far now that she had a moment to relax. Her mind whirled with the new things she'd experienced in the short time she'd been conscious. She was so lost in thought she didn't realize Coulson was talking to her until she heard her name.

"Huh?" She looked up at Coulson.

"I was just wondering how you're doing. This has probably been a lot to process," he said. Natalie nodded.

"It's pretty crazy. It's all kind of starting to sink in, now that I'm just sitting here," she said. Coulson gave a half smile. A question Natalie had been itching to ask popped into her head.

"What exactly does S.H.I.E.L.D. do? I mean, you told me you were a secret agency but what sort of things do you take care of?" she asked.

"We mostly deal with superhuman threats. Super-powered criminals, that sort of thing. Right now, we're studying a possible power source that could provide unlimited clean energy." Coulson explained.

"Is this the same power that the lightning strike contained?" asked Natalie. Coulson nodded.

"I'll explain more when we get to the research facility and you can see the project for yourself. Speaking of which, we should be there…" He checked his watch. "Right about now. Clint, radio to facility communications and let them know we're here."

"On it," replied Clint. He touched the earpiece of the headset and spoke into the mike. "Agent Barton to facility communications, request landing." There was a reply on the other end.

"Roger that." The jet began to descend smoothly. Natalie's ears popped. The descent lasted only a few minutes. The plane slowed to a hover, then Natalie felt a slight bump as they landed. The engines turned off and Clint stood up from the pilot's seat. Coulson and Natalie unstrapped themselves and the three of them exited the jet. They were in front of a building. It was large, but it didn't seem big enough to be a research facility.

"Most of it is underground," said Coulson, in response to her unasked question. He led the way into the building, raising a hand to several agents walking around. They passed through an archway leading into an atrium with a long row of elevator doors. Coulson directed them to the one farthest away from them on the end. They entered the elevator and Clint pressed the single button on the wall. The elevator began a fast descent. Natalie gripped the rail circling the interior. After a moment, the elevator slowed to a halt and the doors slid open to reveal a hallway. A few doors were spaced up and down the hall. Natalie followed Clint and Coulson to the second one on the right side. Coulson swiped his key card again and the door slid open.

They entered into a room that Natalie could only describe as a lab crossed with the Batcave. It was yet another enormous room. In the center was a device holding a glowing blue cube in the center. Other equipment and machines were placed around the room, but Natalie couldn't stop looking at the cube. A man stood up from behind the cube machine. He was older, probably in his late fifties.

"Dr. Selvig," said Coulson. "I'd like to introduce you to Natalie Fisher." Selvig walked over to the group and held out his hand. Natalie shook it.

"Dr. Selvig is in charge of the Tesseract operation," said Coulson.

"The what now operation?" asked Natalie.

"The Tesseract," repeated Selvig. "It's what the cube is called." He had a slight accent that sounded northern European. "We're trying to 'unlock it,' as it were. It could hold unlimited power for the entire earth."

"That's incredible," breathed Natalie. She looked at the Tesseract again. It glowed a bright blue, and the inside shifted, like there was a gas illuminated inside. She stepped closer and felt a strange feeling blossom in her chest. She walked closer, the feeling intensifying with each step.

"Natalie? What are you doing?" Someone's voice came from behind her but Natalie barely heard it. She drew close to the Tesseract and lifted her hand close to the surface.

"Don't touch it!" came from behind her, but she didn't listen. Her fingertips met the smooth surface of the cube and she inhaled sharply. The feeling had grown to almost a throbbing in her chest.

"Wow," she said quietly. Her hand on the cube began glowing purple. She pulled it away and the feeling died down. The purple glow around her hand faded. She stood for a moment, and then turned around to face the group.

"Impossible..." muttered Selvig.

"What's impossible?" she asked.

"You shouldn't have been able to touch it...without..." Selvig trailed off.

"Let me guess...painful death?" she said. She looked at Coulson. "I think you were right about the similar energy." Coulson looked at Selvig.

"Do you want her to stay at the facility?" Selvig nodded.

"Oh yes. Definitely."

**I hope you enjoyed chapter three, and please review! I love reviews! And look forward to the appearance of a certain mischievous Norse deity next chapter!**


	4. An Unwelcome Visitor

**Hello! Chapter four! LOKI TIME! I'm excited for this chapter. Once again, disclaimer, I do not own the Avengers characters or storyline! Enjoy!**

Natalie had been at the research facility for almost a week. Her lightning burn was fading surprisingly fast for a burn that intense. So far, she had gotten lost in the building three times, spent time down in the lab with Selvig while he worked on the Tesseract, and learned some more about Clint. One of the first things she had discovered (by hearing people address him) was that he was more often than not called by a code name, Hawkeye. She didn't really understand why until she had been wandering the facility one evening, walked into a gym-like room and seen him shooting arrows at mobile targets all over the room. He was an incredible shot, letting arrows go at amazing speeds and never missing, never getting anything but bulls-eyes. She had also met another high-level S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Maria Hill, who apparently was the second-in-command to Director Fury. She had been at the facility when they had arrived and went back and forth between the facility and the Helicarrier to check on the projects and experiments.

Natalie slowly adjusted to her new life at the facility and enjoyed the time in the lab. Selvig seemed awkward around her at first, probably because he wasn't used to working around teenagers, but after a couple days he warmed up to her. Clint was also in the lab, but he spent most of his time up in a balcony keeping watch over the lab. Most days in the lab were uneventful. Occasionally the Tesseract's energy readings would rise slightly, but nothing more than that would happen. Natalie would feel the energy spike in her chest as it did in the cube and would be able to tell Selvig before any of the machines did. Most days were normal.

Then one day wasn't.

Natalie could feel it when she woke up. The energy coming from the Tesseract was so massive she could feel it from outside the lab in her room. She dressed as quickly as she could and tore down to the lab. Selvig was there already. He looked up when she burst through the door.

"Something's different today," she panted. "It feels…wilder. Stronger." Selvig checked the reading on one of the machines.

"Nothing indicates it's any different today," he said. "But I'll keep an eye on the energy levels. You've been pretty good with this kind of thing so far." Natalie nodded. The day progressed slowly. As it went on, there were mild fluctuations in the energy level of the Tesseract. Each time it happened Natalie and Selvig would look up and meet eyes across the lab, but each time, the energy died down to its original level, without Selvig's intervention. Nothing happened until later in the evening.

Only a few scientists were in the lab when it happened. Natalie and Selvig were grabbing a very quick snack when Natalie felt the energy levels surge to the highest they'd been all day. It was so abrupt she dropped her apple and doubled over. She felt like she'd been punched in the chest. She straightened up. The feeling didn't fade.

"Lab. Now," she gasped. She and Selvig raced down to the lab to find the scientists frantic at the machines. The Tesseract was throwing off blue bursts of energy. Selvig took charge of the situation.

"Has someone alerted Agent Coulson?" he shouted. A female scientist nodded.

"Yeah, we sent someone to tell him. Fury should be on his way soon." Selvig ran to one of the machines.

"All right. We need to get it stabilized NOW." The next few hours were tense. When they couldn't get the cube stable Selvig alerted Coulson, who ordered an evacuation of the facility. Selvig kept a few scientists in the lab and told the rest to assist in the evacuation process. Natalie tried multiple times to calm the cube but failed. It was like trying to hold back an elephant. Finally word came to the lab that Fury and Hill had arrived. Sure enough, in less than three minutes, Fury entered the lab with a few guards. He made straight for Selvig, who was working furiously at a machine.

"Talk to me, Doctor." Selvig described the events of the evening and how the Tesseract was proving impossible to shut off.

"We prepared for this, Doctor. Harnessing energy from space," said Fury.

"We don't have the harness," replied Selvig. "My calculations are far from complete. She's throwing off interference. Radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation."

"That can be harmful," muttered Fury. "Where's Agent Barton?"

Selvig gave a short laugh. "The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual." He gestured to the balcony where Clint stood, observing the scene. Fury took out his radio.

"Agent Barton. Report," he said into it. Clint clipped a rope to the balcony railing and slid down it. Fury gave him a stern look.

"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things," he said. The two began walking toward the Tesseract platform where Natalie stood, trying to "read" the cube.

"I see better from a distance," replied Clint. Natalie suppressed a smile.

"Have you seen anything that might set this thing off?" asked Fury. Natalie stepped off the platform as they reached it. She felt a spike in her chest.

"Oh god…" she whispered. This one was actually slightly painful, like heartburn. She heard a scientist call for Selvig off to her left.

"Doctor! It's spiking again!" Selig looked at Natalie, who was leaning against a large computer. She nodded. Barton and Fury were still talking.

"…if there's any tampering, sir, it came from this end," said Barton. Fury looked slightly confused.

"At this end?" he asked.

"Yeah. The cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right?" replied Barton. Fury nodded. "Doors open from both ends."

"Uh, speaking of opening…" Natalie spoke up, pointing at the cube. It was sparking. Selvig looked up.

"What's that?" The Tesseract sparked several more times; the spray of sparks growing larger each time. A blue beam of light shot up from the cube to the ceiling, creating a roiling blue energy cloud. The pain in Natalie's body disappeared, replaced with a feeling like when she had touched the Tesseract, but stronger. Her whole body glowed purple. The room shook with an explosion. There was a bright blue light around the cube. When it died down, a man was kneeling on the platform. Natalie's purple glow faded. He was facing away from her, toward Fury, Barton and Selvig. Natalie couldn't make out much of his clothing. His coat was black and green leather. His hair was long and black, slicked back and curving up slightly at the end. He held a golden scepter in his hand. A ball of blue light glowed in its head, and it had a wicked curved point like a scorpion tail. He stood up. The three men stared in shock at him.

"Sir, please put down the spear!" said Fury in his commanding tone. The man looked down at his spear, back up at Fury, and fired a blue stream of light from it. Barton dove, pushing Fury out of the way. Selvig jumped the other way. Natalie ducked behind the large computer, peering out from behind it. The guards opened fire on him. He made an impossibly long leap and landed on them, firing more energy from his staff. Behind him, Barton staggered upright against a wall. He pulled out his gun and moved toward the man, who grabbed his arm and pulled back on it. Clint strained against him.

"You have heart," said the man. He had a smooth, almost seductive voice. He lifted his scepter and placed it in the center of Clint's chest. Natalie stood up behind the computer. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fury also rising. Blue light flowed from the head of the scepter and into Clint's chest. Natalie saw little blue lights travel up his face and his eyes glowed a bright blue-the same color as the Tesseract. He stopped struggling and straightened up, placing his gun back in its holster. The man tossed his scepter to his other hand and turned to another agent. Natalie crouched back down. The man did the same scepter-on-the-chest thing to the agent. While the man was occupied with his mind control, Fury had moved over to the Tesseract platform and removed the cube from the machine. He looked over at Natalie peeking up over the computer.

_Wait_, he mouthed. Natalie nodded. Fury slid the cube into a briefcase and stood up. The man turned to face Fury.

"Please don't," he said. "I still need that."

"This doesn't have to get any messier," said Fury calmly.

"Of course it does," the man replied. "I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki, of Asgard. And I am burdened with glorious purpose." _Okay. Egomaniac? Check_, thought Natalie. Selvig looked up from checking the pulse of one of the scientists and slowly approached Loki.

"Loki, brother of Thor?" he asked. Loki scowled slightly.

"We have no quarrel with your people," said Fury.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot," replied Loki with a slight smirk.

"You planning to step on us?" retorted Fury. Loki smiled.

"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free," he said, like he was announcing the cure for cancer.

"Free from what?" asked Fury.

"Freedom," Loki replied simply. _Aaaand crazy. Check .On the list for "definite supervillain," _thought Natalie. Loki continued talking.

"Freedom is life's greatest lie. Once you accept that, in your heart-" he turned and placed his scepter on Selvig's chest- "You will know peace." Clint looked up at the portal cloud and moved to Loki's side.

"Yeah, you say peace. I kinda think you mean the other thing," said Fury, still holding the briefcase. Clint turned to Loki.

"Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow and drop a hundred feet of rock on us, He means to bury us."

"Like the pharaohs of old," said Fury.

"He's right," said Selvig. "The portal is collapsing in on itself. We've got maybe two minutes before this goes critical." Loki gave another evil smile.

"Well then," he said. Clint drew his gun and shot Fury in the stomach. Fury fell to the floor and dropped the briefcase, which Clint grabbed before leading the way out of the room, followed by Loki, Selvig and the agent Loki had controlled with his scepter. Natalie waited until their footsteps had faded, then ran out from behind the machine and over to Fury- who was standing up, looking fine.

"How-" Natalie started.  
"Body armor. Come on," said Fury, turning and running towards the door. Natalie raced after him, followed by the scientists and agents, who had regained consciousness. Fury took out his radio as he ran and spoke into it.

"Hill? Do you copy? Barton…has turned." The group entered the elevator which rocketed upward as soon as the doors closed. Fury was still giving orders into his radio.

"Get the Tesseract. Shut them down." They exited the elevator and saw hundreds of people running through the entrance. The building was beginning to shake violently and debris was beginning to fall from the ceiling. The few scientists with them rushed off in another direction. Hill's voice came over Fury's radio.

"We're clear upstairs, sir. We need to go." Fury and Natalie ran outside as large chunks of concrete and plaster fell from the ceiling. Fury ran over to a waiting helicopter and climbed aboard it, followed by Natalie. The door shut and the chopper immediately lifted off, and none too soon. Large cracks had begun to appear in the ground below. The helicopter turned, the facility visible out the side window-or what was the facility. The ground began crumbling and the entire building exploded and collapsed in on itself, sinking into the ground. Natalie stared in horror at the destruction below her. Off to the side, Natalie spotted a truck racing out of a tunnel seconds before the mouth collapsed in a mound of rubble and dust. Fury had seen it too. He tossed her a pair of binoculars.

"Who is it?" he asked. Natalie trained the binoculars on the truck. In the driver's seat was Clint and next to him was the other agent. Loki stood in the bed of the truck with his scepter poised and ready.

"It's Loki," she told Fury.

"Follow that truck," said Fury to the helicopter pilot. The chopper swung around and the door slid open. Fury moved to he door and pulled his gun. He fired at the truck, which weaved wildly across the ground. Loki turned in the truck bed and fired his scepter at them. The beam hit the chopper square on and it began to fall.

"Come on!" yelled Fury to Natalie. She stumbled to the door. Fury jumped out of the chopper. Of course Natalie hesitated for a moment. Then she remembered that the helicopter was burning and getting caught in an explosion was definitely _not_ at the top of her to-do list. She leaped out of the chopper and rolled as she hit the ground. The breath was knocked out of her but she didn't seem seriously hurt.

"You all right?" asked Fury as he continued to fire at the disappearing truck. The truck vanished in the distance. Fury stood up.

"I'm fine," Natalie said with a cough. Coulson's voice came over Fury's radio lying a few feet away.

"_Director. Director Fury, do you copy?_" Fury grabbed his radio.

"The Tesseract is with a hostile force. I have men down. Hill?"

"_A lot of men still under. Don't know how many survivors_," came Agent Hill's voice. Fury's expression darkened slightly.

"Sound a general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase."

"_Roger that_," came Hill's reply.

"Coulson, get back to base. This is a level seven. As of right now…we are at war," said Fury.

"_What do we do?_" asked Coulson. Fury was silent for a moment.

**Uffda, as we say in Minnesota! I'm kidding, no one says that anymore. But that was a long chapter! It was super fun to write, though! As always, thanks for reading and please review! I love hearing your opinions and comments!**


	5. They're Going to Help

**Hello everyone! I apologize for the long update break, caused by two reasons: my family went on a trip for MEA break, and also I've had a lot of homework lately. But I'm back, and this chapter will be longer to make up for my absence. Enjoy!**

Natalie and Fury had been picked up by a quinjet, which had also found Maria Hill in the wreckage of the building. The quinjet brought them up to the Helicarrier. At least that's what Natalie assumed. She fell asleep on the ride up, suddenly exhausted by the night's events.

She woke up, still in her clothes from the day before, in a room full of cots. Taped to the wall near her head were a note and a S.H.I.E.L.D. key card. The note simply read: _Deck level, find Agent Natasha Romanoff. _Natalie stuck the card in her pocket and left the room. She was in an unfamiliar section of the Helicarrier (obviously, she'd only been to three areas). _Hmmm… when in doubt, head up, _she thought. She found an elevator and pressed the call button, but nothing happened. It didn't light up. Then Natalie remembered the card slot.

"Duh, Lee," she muttered to herself. She swiped her card and pressed the button. This time it lit up and she heard the hum of the elevator traveling in the shaft. There was a ping, and the doors slid open. A pair of agents walked out, talking quietly. Natalie entered after them and searched the array of buttons. She found one marked DECK, jabbed it and the doors slid shut. Natalie heard quiet music coming from a speaker above her head. Natalie recognized The Beatles' "Yesterday." Natalie smiled. The elevator went up quite a ways, like she had been deep at the bottom of the ship. The elevator opened in a small hallway with a flight of stairs at the end. Natalie climbed the stairs and opened the door. Bright sunlight flooded in and she shielded her eyes. The top of the Helicarrier was a flurry of activity. Agents rushed around, tying down containers and various aircraft.

"Well, time to find one agent in five zillion," Natalie muttered. She glanced around. She found an agent that didn't look busy and walked up to him.

"Um, excuse me; I'm looking for Agent Natasha Romanoff, do you know where I could find her?" The agent's eyes roved across the deck. He pointed across at a woman standing about fifty yards away near the edge of the deck with short, fiery red hair, wearing an attractive black jacket and pants, with a red shirt underneath.

"That's her."

"Thanks," said Natalie as she walked away towards Romanoff. As she neared, Romanoff saw her approaching.

"Hi," said Romanoff. "I'm Natasha. Are you Natalie Fisher?" Natalie nodded.

"I got a note that said to meet you up here," she said. Natasha nodded.

"Makes sense. We have a few new people coming today; I'm kind of acting as tour guide. Fury told me you already know a little bit about the Helicarrier, but I guess you're hanging with us."

"New people like new agents?" asked Natalie.

"Sort of. People who can help deal with the Tesseract problem," replied Natasha. "I went to get one last night. He should be up here soon too…" Natasha looked around the deck. "Hm. Coulson should be here with someone soon as well," she said. Her eyes scanned the sky and she pointed at a quinjet coming in for a landing on the ship. "C'mon. You're gonna want to meet this guy." Natalie followed Natasha over to the quinjet. The door opened and Coulson exited, followed by a tall man with blond hair. He wore an old-fashioned looking jacket and trousers pulled up slightly higher than normal. He was handsome and muscular, and gazed around the deck with a slight fascination. Natasha and Natalie walked over to them.

"Agent Romanoff, Natalie- Captain Rogers," Coulson introduced them briefly.

"Ma'am. Miss." said Rogers, nodding to Natasha and Natalie in turn. They both said hello. Natasha turned to Coulson.

"They need you on the bridge, they're starting the face trace," she said.

"See you there," replied Coulson, and he turned and walked away.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. Thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" Natasha asked Rogers. He looked slightly confused.

"Trading cards?" he repeated.

"They're vintage. He's very proud," said Natasha.

"You're _Captain America_?" asked Natalie in awe. Rogers nodded.

"That's me, miss. But please, call me Steve." Natalie nodded.

"And you can call me Lee. No need for the 'miss…'" she replied. Natasha was looking around the deck. She waved at a man walking towards them, bumping into people as he stared around. He had wavy dark hair and wore a brown sports coat with a purple shirt underneath.

"Doctor Banner," said Steve in greeting.

"Oh, yeah, hi. They told me you'd be coming," said Banner.

"Word is you can find the Cube," said Steve.

"Is that the only word on me?" asked Banner, somewhat hesitantly.

"Only word I care about," replied Steve matter-of-factly. The men were silent for a moment. Banner turned to Natalie.

"We haven't met, have we? I'm Bruce Banner." For the second time in two minutes, Natalie was somewhat starstruck.

"Natalie Fisher, and I'm a huge fan of your physics work," she said. Bruce gave a small smile.

"I'm a little surprised to hear that from a teenager, but thanks," he said. He turned to Steve

"Must be strange for you, all of this," he said.

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar," Steve replied. Natasha entered the conversation.

"Gentlemen, you might wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breathe." There was a voice over the intercom as Bruce and Steve walked to the edge of the deck and peered over the edge. Natalie stood with Natasha watching them. Natasha turned to Natalie.

"You know, I'd have thought you'd be over with them oohing and aahing over the Helicarrier." Natalie smiled.

"Nah, I was on board a week before the Tesseract incident," she replied. Natasha gave her a quizzical look. "I'll elaborate later."

"Is this a submarine?" asked Steve.

"Really, they want me in a submerged, pressurized metal container?" asked Bruce skeptically.

"Not quite," said Natalie. The men looked back at the two young women, then back over the side as there was a loud whirring and clunking sound. The Helicarrier began to lift into the air as huge propellers spun on the side.

"Oh, no, this is much worse," said Bruce with a hint of false enthusiasm in his voice as the Helicarrier rose higher and higher.

"Come on, boys," said Natasha. The men turned away from the edge and followed Natasha and Natalie back into the Helicarrier.

"Welcome to the bridge," said Natasha as they entered the large room. Steve and Bruce stared around the room in awe. Natalie spotted Maria Hill standing in the center of the room, listening to various crew members and giving orders. Fury stood on the balcony observing the proceeding.

"We're at level, sir," Natalie heard Hill say to Fury as the group walked around a technology-loaded conference table that was in the center of the balcony. _That's new_, thought Natalie.

"Good. Let's vanish," he replied.

"Engage retro reflection panels," called Hill.

"Reflection panels engaged," called a male agent.

"Gentlemen," said Fury, addressing Steve and Bruce. Steve pulled a small piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Fury. Natalie caught a glimpse of the 10 in the corner and the green coloring.

"Doctor, thank you for coming," Fury said to Bruce, shaking his hand.

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, um, how long am I staying?" he asked.

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the wind," replied Fury.

"Well, where are you with that?" asked Bruce. Agent Coulson came over to them.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cell phones, cameras…" They continued talking. Natalie noticed Natasha move over to a screen and pull up information. She saw a picture of Clint's face on it.

"…it's eyes and ears for us," finished Coulson.

"It's still not gonna find them in time," said Natasha. Bruce nodded.

"You have to narrow your field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?"

"How many are there?" replied Fury to Bruce's question.

"Call every lab you know. Tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm, basic cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have someplace for me to work?" Fury nodded.

"Agent Romanoff, would you show Doctor Banner to his laboratory, please?" Natasha walked over to Bruce and they began to walk towards the door. Fury turned to Natalie.

"I want you to go to the lab too," he said. Natalie nodded and ran after Natasha and Bruce. She caught up to them as they were exiting the bridge and fell into step behind them. They both turned to look at her as they were walking.

"Fury told me to go too," she said simply. They walked for a while and traveled down a level. It seemed like they were walking the length of the entire ship. Finally, they stopped in front of a door. There were large windows in the walls, allowing Natalie a view of the multitude of machines, lab stations and touchscreens inside. Natasha opened the door and the three of them stepped inside.

"Wow…" breathed Natalie and Bruce simultaneously. They both wandered around the different stations and transparent monitors. Natalie stopped behind a table and looked out the window behind it. The Helicarrier extended beyond the windows on either side. For the first time Natalie could really see how tall the Helicarrier was. The lab seemed to be somewhat closer to the bottom of the ship, with about ten levels below it, but above was at least another twenty.

"Nice view," she remarked. She turned to find Natasha with one hand touching her ear, listening intently.  
"They found Loki. I've gotta go," she said. She turned to leave, then turned back to them. She took a small case out of her pocket and set it on a table by the door.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. earpieces," she explained. "Just touch it to activate it and talk, touch it again when you're done. It picks up your brain signals and tells it who you want to talk to." And with that, she hurried out the door. Natalie walked over to the case. She opened it and looked at the earpieces. Bruce joined her. They were small, small enough to be almost unnoticeable once inside your ear. She picked one up and placed it gently in her ear. She couldn't even tell it was there. Bruce also had put in his. Natalie moved over to one of the touchscreens hanging from the ceiling. She tapped it and the screen came to life. The words WELCOME TO THE WISHBONE LAB scrolled across before several program icons came up. There were some common ones, like an internet browser, but several icons were clearly special S.H.I.E.L.D. programs. She touched one simply labeled _Tesseract_. It opened into several more files. One, labeled _Tesseract Energy Discharge_, caught her eye. She opened it to reveal a long report. She scrolled through it, scanning the long paragraphs. At the very end, there was a short chunk of text marked UPDATE. It read:

_Energy Update: The Tesseract's energy discharge has been absorbed into adolescent female. No ill effects have been observed. S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, after deliberation, has given the order to keep subject under S.H.I.E.L.D. watch. The energy has dangerous potential._

_END OF REPORT_

"Huh," said Natalie to herself. Bruce, at another screen across the room, looked up.

"Say something?" he asked. Natalie shook her head slightly.

"Oh… apparently Fury doesn't want a super-powered teenager loose in the United States," she replied. "It's nothing." Bruce gave her a slightly confused look.

"Super-powered?" he queried.

"Well…not super-powered…it's a long story," Natalie said with a half smile.

"I wouldn't mind hearing it," said Bruce. "Especially if it has to do with why a teenager is working on a government project. No offense."

"No, I get it. I'd be a little confused too," said Natalie. She proceeded to explain the lightning strike and the rest of the events of the past few days that had led to her ending up on board the Helicarrier again. Bruce listened with a curious expression while she talked. When she finished, he regarded her for a few seconds.

"That's pretty…incredible," he said. "Being exposed to that much energy, both the Tesseract and the lightning…it's amazing you survived." Natalie chuckled.

"You wouldn't believe how many times people told me that in the first few days I was at S.H.I.E.L.D.," she said. Bruce smiled, then his expression turned slightly quizzical again.

"And, uh, your parents, how have they reacted to all this? Aren't they worried?" Natalie picked up a small tool from a lab bench next to her and turned it over in her hands.

"You're actually the first one who's brought this up," said Natalie, deliberately avoiding answering Bruce's question. "Everyone else seems to have just assumed Fury took care of it or something." Bruce gave her a knowing look.

"You're stalling," he said. "Did I bring up a touchy subject? I'm sorry if I did." Natalie shrugged.

"Yes and no. I usually don't talk about it but it's not really a sore subject anymore." She paused for a moment. "My parents were involved in a hit-and-run accident when I was really young. I don't really remember them." Bruce looked apologetic.

"Oh…I'm sorry," he said. Natalie shook her head.

"It's fine. I mean… my parents died, I know that doesn't seem fine, but like I said, I don't really remember them. I don't dwell on the past. It just slows you down. And my life got better. When I was sixth grade, I took a standardized test through school and scored at a ninth grade level. I was put into high school and now I'm sixteen, and this fall I'm…or I would've started at NYU. I know it seems kind of like a cliché backstory but…" Bruce looked impressed.

"That's quite something… What were you going to study?" Natalie shrugged.

"I wanted to do a science major. About a year ago I got interested in nanotechnology." Bruce nodded appreciatively.

"It's good that you don't dwell on the past. I don't either. It tends not to go so well." Natalie was curious.

"Why? What's your history? Or is it something of a sore subject for you as well?" Bruce shook his head dismissively.

"It's more embarrassing than sore, really."

"Well, I think now you have to tell. I mean, I just told you my condensed life story," said Natalie. Bruce was silent for a minute.

"Several years ago, did you hear about an incident with…monsters in Harlem?" Natalie nodded. She had heard the news stories of two monstrosities battling on the streets of the New York neighborhood. "Well…one of them was me," said Bruce. Natalie's eyebrows shot up.

"_You?_" Bruce nodded.

"You know the super-soldier serum used to create Captain America?" Natalie nodded. "A while ago I was asked to try and help recreate it. An experiment failed, and I was exposed to huge amounts of gamma radiation. I should have been killed, but instead I got a sort of…alter ego- the Hulk. I turn into the Hulk whenever a few certain emotions get too strong- namely anger. I moved out of the States and I tried to focus on helping people. I became a doctor in Indonesia…that's where Natasha found me." Natalie absorbed Bruce's story.

"Is that why Fury wanted you here? Because you have…personal experience with gamma energy?" Bruce nodded.

"I'm just glad he didn't want the other guy. He's not exactly the most cooperative." Bruce said with a half smile, his eyes returning to the screen he stood at. He typed a command and plucked a stylus from the side of the screen, scrawling out an equation. Natalie continued browsing through the files on her screen. She touched one labeled _Phase Two_, and a message flashed up in front of her.

S.H.I.E.L.D. AUTHOURIZATION REQUIRED TO CONTINUE

Natalie closed the file and put the Phase 2 tidbit of information away in the back of her mind. She walked over to a bench and sat down. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the Tesseract energy, trying to feel how close it was, but after a few minutes she stopped. She had very little idea of what she was doing and she couldn't concentrate because her stomach had started growling. She got up and began rifling through drawers and cupboards until she stumbled upon a drawer of foil packages. She picked one out and read the label.

"Want some trail mix?" she asked Bruce. He looked up.

"Trail mix?" She tossed him a packet and tore one open for herself. Chewing a handful of granola, she walked over to Bruce's screen. It looked sort of like a Word program, but the page was full of several long equations.

"Is that your tracking algorithm?" she asked him. He nodded.

"It might not look like it could, but this cuts out some places to search," he said. Natalie nodded. She was about to comment when she heard Natasha's voice. The quality was so good she thought for a moment that Natasha had walked into the room.

"_We got him_," came her voice in Natalie's ear. Natalie looked over at Bruce. He was looking back at her.

"One step closer," Natalie said, pouring more granola into her hand. "I mean, assuming he'll tell us where the Tesseract is, which he probably won't, but I'm trying to see the optimistic side of things." Bruce chuckled lightly. The two worked in mostly silence, breaking it only to ask question or show one another something. About twenty minutes later, Natasha's voice came over the earpiece again.

"_We have an issue_." Natalie touched her earpiece.

"What sort of issue? He didn't get away, did he?" she asked worriedly.

"_Not exactly. His brother Thor showed up and decided to take him home or something. Iron Man and Steve are down there right now…negotiating…with Thor._"

"Somehow when you say 'negotiating,' I think you mean they're being territorial boys," Natalie muttered.

"_In Cap's defense I think he's just trying to get between Tony and Thor and stop them from killing each other,"_ Natasha replied.

"Well, good for Cap, but when they're done being children, will you tell them to get their butts back up to the ship?" said Natalie in slight exasperation. Natasha sighed.

"I'll try. Tony can be stubborn and I don't want to try reasoning with a thunder god," Natasha said. "See you when we get back." Natalie touched her earpiece again. She shook her head.

"_Boys_," she muttered. She looked over at Bruce. "Not you, I mean." He smiled and the two of them went back to work.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
An hour or so later…

A movement in the window of the Wishbone Lab caught Natalie's eye. A reflection was moving along the glass. She straightened up. Bruce was looking too. A large group of guards was walking past. In the center of them was Loki. It was the first time Natalie had gotten a good look at him. He was certainly handsome, but his features looked slightly sunken, like he'd been almost starved. He looked into the lab as he passed. He looked at Bruce and a small malicious smile formed on his face. His eyes slid to Natalie and something in his expression flickered. The smile dropped a fraction. Then the group of guards passed out of sight. Natalie glanced over at Bruce. He had removed his glasses and was rubbing his temples.

"You okay?" she asked. He nodded.

"_Hey, we're meeting in the bridge,_" came Natasha's voice through the earpieces. Bruce touched his.

"On our way," he said. The two of them left the lab and made their way back along the length of the ship to the bridge. When they arrived, they found Natasha and Steve sitting at the conference table by the door. Maria Hill stood near the staircase leading to the computer area. Natasha had pulled up a screen displaying a camera feed. It showed Loki in a cell. He appeared to be conversing with someone off to the side, outside the cell. Steve wore his Captain America suit with the hood pulled back. Natasha wore a sleek black jumpsuit with several weapons and holsters attached. Another person stood past the end of the table. He was quite tall, with blond hair that reached past his shoulders. He wore an armored vest and leather and metal wrist guards. He had enormous muscles in his arms, which were folded across his chest. Natalie sat down next to Natasha.

"I'm guessing that's Thor?" she said. Natasha nodded, her eyes on the screen. Natalie looked as well.

"It's an impressive cage," Loki was saying. "Not built, I think for me."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," came Fury's voice from outside the camera's view.

"Oh I've heard," said Loki, a smile on his face. He turned to face the camera.

"A mindless beats- makes play he's still a man." Everyone glanced at Bruce. He smirks. "How desperate are you," Loki continued, "that you call on such lost creatures to defend you? That you call on a child!" Natalie frowned.

"How desperate am I?" asked Fury. Loki turned back to him.

"You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me _very_ desperate. You might not be glad that you did."

"Ooh. It _burns_ you to have come so close, to have the Tesseract, to have power. _Unlimited_ power. And for what?" He turned back to the camera with a smile. "A warm light for all mankind to share?" Natalie looked quizzically around at the people at the table. They all looked just as confused as she did. On the screen, Loki had turned back towards Fury.

"And then to be reminded what real power is."

"Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine, or something," replied Fury. Natalie caught a glimpse of his boots and the bottom of his coat as he left the cell room. Natasha shut of the screen. The five of them looked at each other.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" said Bruce sarcastically.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" All eyes turned to Thor.

"Loki has an army call the Chitauri." Thor had a deep, accented voice. "They're not of Asgard, nor any world known. He means to lead them against you people. They will win him the earth, in return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army, from outer space?" Natalie could hear the skepticism in his voice.

"So, he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for," said Bruce. Thor turned to look at Bruce.

"Selvig?" he repeated.

"He's an astrophysicist," Bruce explained.

"He's a friend," said Thor.

"Loki has him under some kind of spell- along with one of ours," said Natasha. Natalie spoke up.

"Does anyone else think it's a little odd that he let himself be captured so easily? What does he gain from being here, instead of out there, leading an army?" Steve nodded.

"Yeah, I thought he'd be much harder to take down. I mean, Tony and I fought him for about three minutes and then he just surrendered."

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki," said Bruce. "That guy's brain is a bag full of cats; you can smell the crazy on him." Thor scowled.

"Take care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he is my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days," said Natasha without hesitation. There was an awkward pause.

"He's adopted…" said Thor quietly.

"Anyways…" said Natalie.

"I think it's about the mechanics," said Bruce decisively. "Iridium, what do they need the iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent," said a new voice from behind them. All of them turned. Walking through the doors was none other than Tony Stark, who Natalie recognized from news reports and science articles, followed by Coulson. Tony turned to Coulson. "I'm saying, take a weekend; I'll fly you to Portland. Keep love alive," he said quietly. He turned back to the rest of them and walked past the table towards Thor. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at S.H.I.E.L.D." As he passed the thunder god he lightly hit Thor's bicep. "No hard feelings, Point Break, you got a mean swing." Thor gave Tony a dark look as he continued by towards the control panel. Natalie caught Natasha rolling her eyes. "Also, means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants," Tony continued. He had reached a control panel overlooking the field of computers. "Uh, raise the mizzenmast, ship the topsails!" The S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel all gave him strange looks. Tony pointed at a blond man to his right. "That man is playing Galaga. Thought we wouldn't notice…but we did." He covered one eye and glanced around at the control panel. "How does Fury even see these?"

"He turns," said Hill, with a touch of attitude in her voice.

"Sounds exhausting," replied Tony. Natalie leaned over to Natasha.

"Is he always like this?" she murmured.

"No, sometimes he gets off-task," replied Natasha with a smirk. Tony, it seemed, had gotten back to the topic at hand.

"Only major component he still needs is a power source- of high energy density. Something to kick-start the cube."

"When did you become an expert in thermo-nuclear astrophysics?" asked Hill.

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the extraction theory papers- am I the _only _one who did the reading?" said Tony in exasperation.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" asked Steve

"He'd have to heat the Cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier," Bruce began.

"Unless Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the Quantum Tunneling effect," said Tony pointed out.

"Well, if could do that, he could achieve-"

"Heavy-ion fusion at any reactor on the planet," Natalie finished. All eyes fell on her.

"What?" she said defensively. "Not all teenagers are scientifically impaired."

"Finally, people who speak English," said Tony, walking over to the end of the table where Natalie and Bruce sat.

"Is that what just happened?" asked Steve in confusion. Tony shook Bruce's hand.

It's good to meet you, Doctor Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control, and turn into a big green rage monster."

"…Thanks," said Bruce. Tony turned to Natalie.

"And you're that college-bound kid, aren't you?" Natalie resisted saying _I'm NOT a KID!_ and instead nodded and shook Tony's proffered hand.

"You're a huge inspiration for me," she said. Tony grinned.

"Thank you, I try." Fury entered the bridge.

"Doctor Banner and Natalie are only here to track the Cube," said Fury. _Only that, huh? _thought Natalie. "I was hoping you might join them," finished Fury.

"I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical but it works an awful lot like a hydra weapon," said Steve.

"What's a hydra weapon?" asked Natalie.

"HYDRA was a World War Two-era terrorist group," explained Steve. Natalie nodded.

"Well, I don't know about it being like a HYDRA weapon but it is powered by the Cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys," said Fury. Thor looked confused.

"Monkeys? I do not understand-"

"I do!" interrupted Steve excitedly. Everyone was silent. "I…I understood that reference," Steve finished with an embarrassed look on his face.

"When this is all over we really need to teach you about the modern world," Natalie sighed.

"Shall we play, Doctor? Little Einstein?" Tony said.

"'Scuse me?" Natalie said indignantly, raising her eyebrows.

"I like nicknames," said Tony offhandedly. Natalie exhaled heavily through her nose. It was going to be a long night.

**Wow. Well…I said it would be longer...I hope it wasn't too long. I couldn't find a good stopping point and I just had a lot of momentum with it. Anyways, thanks for reading, and as always, please review with your thoughts! I enjoy hearing what you have to say! **

**Until next update,  
-The Bookworm**


	6. Secrets and Escapes

**Hey, everyone! I apologize for the long update wait. I just finished finals for the first trimester of school. It's been crazy. But I'm back! And I would like to say a big thank you to _EnyaandEathenyl_ for beta-reading this chapter and making it better! You guys should go check out her Avengers stories! If you like my story I think you'll like hers. And to the guest that reviewed the last chapter, I considered sending her, but I also wanted to develop her backstory a little more. But don't worry... plenty of Loki-Natalie interaction coming quite soon...**

* * *

Natalie, Bruce and Tony were working in the Wishbone lab. They had arrived back to find Loki's scepter waiting on the lab bench near the window, and now Bruce was scanning the scepter with a small handheld device. He looked up.

"The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process."

Tony stood across the room working on a screen. "If we bypass their mainframe and direct route to the homer cluster we can clock this around six hundred teraflops."

Bruce looked at him. "All I packed was a toothbrush," he said.

Natalie smiled. "At least you got to pack stuff," she said.

Tony chuckled. "You know, you should come by Stark Tower sometime," he said to Bruce. "Top ten floors- all R and D. You'd love it, it's a candyland."

Bruce smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Thanks, but…last time I was in New York I kind of broke…Harlem…"

"Well, I promise a stress-free environment," said Tony, walking over to join Bruce at the lab bench. "No tension, no surprises." He poked Bruce in the side with a sharp tool.

"Ow!" yelped Bruce. Tony gave him a scrutinizing look.

"Hey!" came Steve's voice from the doorway of the lab.

"Tony…" Natalie reprimanded.

"Nothing?" asked Tony, sounding mildly surprised.

"Are you nuts?" asked Steve, walking inside.

"Probably a little," Natalie muttered.

"Jury's out!" said Tony to no one in particular. Ignoring Steve, he turned to Bruce.

"You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz, bongo drums, big bag of weed?" he asked. Natalie rolled her eyes.

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve asked exasperatedly.

"Funny things are," replied Tony with a serious face.

"Threatening the safety on everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doc," Steve said.

"Nah, it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle…pointy things," replied Bruce.

"You're tip-toeing, big man. You need to strut," said Tony casually.

Steve scowled. "And you need to focus on the problem, Mister Stark."

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now, why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation without all the variables," said Tony.

"You think Fury's hiding something?" said Steve, almost in disbelief.

"He's a spy. Captain, he's the spy. His secrets have secrets," Tony replied. He gestured to Banner. "It's bugging him too, isn't it?"

"I think Tony's right," Natalie interjected.

"See? Someone else intelligent agrees with me," said Tony in satisfaction.

"S.H.I.E.L.D.'s working on something called Phase 2. I found a file on one of the computer desktops earlier but I couldn't access it. Now it's gone. I mean, the fact that they would leave something like that to find is suspicious, but I don't try to understand the inner workings of this agency." Natalie said. Tony gestured in an _I told you so_ way.

Bruce spoke up. "Remember Loki's jibe at Fury? 'A warm light for all mankind?'" Tony nodded.

"I heard it," said Steve.

"Well, I think that was meant for you," continued Bruce, indicating Tony, who had found the snack drawer and pulled out a packet of dried blueberries. He offered Bruce one, who declined and kept talking. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about it, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark Tower?" asked Steve. "That big ugly-" Tony shot him a look. "-building in New York?"

"It's powered by an arc reactor, self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for, what, a year?" explained Bruce.

"It's the future of clean energy," said Natalie excitedly. Tony nodded.

"It's just the prototype." He turned to Steve. "I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now, that's what he's getting at," he clarified.

"If the Tesseract project was all about clean energy, why not bring the biggest name- the only name- in clean energy to work on it?" asked Natalie.

"Well, S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn't exactly consider me the easiest person to work with," said Tony. "Apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed and I don't play well with others, but that's been bugging me too. I'll look into that as soon as my decryption program finishes breaking into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s secure files."

"I'm sorry, did you say-" Steve sputtered.

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever tried to hide." Tony explained.

"Who's Jarvis?" asked Natalie.

"JARVIS. J-A-R-V-I-S. Stands for 'Just A Really Very Intelligent System'. He's the A.I. I created a while ago to run my mansion and tower systems."

"Cool," grinned Natalie. Steve sighed.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?" he said exasperatedly.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome," said Tony.

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up," said Steve. "This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

"I agree, but I can't pretend this doesn't interest me," said Natalie.

"Following's not my style," said Tony simply.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?" retorted Steve.

"Out of the people in this room, which one is a) wearing a spangly outfit, and b) not of use?" said Tony.

"Steve, tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?" said Bruce.

Steve hesitated. "Just find the Cube," he said after a moment. He looked at Natalie. "Will you come help me with something?"

Natalie nodded, a little unsure. "Yeah, sure," she replied, and followed him out of the lab. Once outside, Steve paused for a moment, and then walked off down the hall. Natalie almost had to jog to match his long strides and fast pace. Once away from the lab, he slowed a bit and turned to Natalie as they walked.

"I didn't want to admit it in the lab but this secret project has me a bit riled. I wanna know what's going on. Tony can use all his fancy computers, but I'm gonna do some old-fashioned digging." They continued deeper into the ship, into storage levels. Steve stopped outside a door and gave it a contemplative look. He jammed his fingers into the seam down the middle and began to pry it open. Natalie's eyes were drawn to his huge biceps as he forced the door open. They walked inside.

"I'm gonna go check up here. You start over there," he whispered, pointing up a level. "And keep an eye out for any guards. There's bound to be some."

Natalie scurried over to a scaffolding unit and hoisted herself up the crisscrossing bars and onto a catwalk. She crept over to a large box labeled .237and tried to pry up the lid. It was locked. Of course it was locked. She glanced at the lock system. There was a key swiper. She pulled her key out of her pocket. It was worth a shot… She swiped it. The LED on the lock turned from red to green and the led popped open slightly. She eased it all the way open and scanned the contents. There was a folded costume- a hood, cape with a raised neck like a vampire's, a bodysuit and boots- and a coiled whip. She shrugged and quietly shut the lid.

She crept up the row of boxes, glancing at the lids. They were all marked CONFISCATED and then had a series of numbers with a name. If she was looking for Phase Two stuff, she was in the wrong place. She found a catwalk and crossed to the other side of the room. Here, the storage containers were labeled with letters closer to P. She moved down the rows, searching for the P-H's. Past PHAL…past PHAN… She reached an aisle. The whole next aisle was marked PHASE 2. She touched her earpiece.

"Steve…" she whispered.

"Find something?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah…I found something all right…" she said. "Where are you?"

"Third level, near the back wall."

"Come down to the second level. I'm in an aisle on the side that you started on. Look for the PHASE 2 signs." A minute later, Steve appeared near the aisle. Natalie waved him over. They crept down the sides of the aisle, examining the labels on the boxes. Steve tapped her shoulder and motioned to a box marked WEAPONS 1-1. He forced the lid open easily. Natalie was again impressed. They peered inside. Steve looked shocked. Weapons and equipment were stacked inside the box.

"This is HYDRA stuff," he whispered, lifting out a helmet and turning it over in his hands. Natalie gently picked out a large gun. It was like no gun that she'd ever seen. There didn't seem to be a place for bullets to be loaded, instead it looked like it ran on and would fire some sort of pure energy.

"What are they doing in the Phase 2 stuff? You'd think it's be stored with other confiscated stuff, over there." She gestured to the area she had started in. Steve shook his head.

"I might know, but I hope I'm wrong," he said.

"What do you-" Natalie was cut off by a harsh wailing alarm. A red light revolved over the door.

"Do you think that was us?" she asked frantically.

"I don't know, but we probably should get back to the lab," said Steve. He grabbed a gun from the box and Natalie reached for the lid at the same time Steve did. His hand landed on top of hers. He removed it quickly, looking slightly self-conscious. Natalie filed his reaction away in her mind to think about later (not that it seemed like there was much to think about). The two of them ran out of the storage room. The halls of the ship seemed emptier, thankfully- no one was stopping them to question why Steve was carrying a large gun. As they ran, Natalie glanced into some of the rooms they passed. In each one, she could see at least one computer. All the computers had a red warning flashing on the screen. Natalie read them clearly when she passed a room with a large SMARTboard: VIRUS DETECTED. She sighed.

"It wasn't us. Tony's computer finished hacking into the S.H.I.E.L.D. system." Steve sighed as well. As they neared the lab, they heard a heated debate already in progress.

"What is Phase 2?" they heard Tony ask. Steve wasted no time in entering the lab.

"Phase 2 is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the Cube to make weapons," he said, placing the gun on the table and turning to Tony. "Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me." Natalie crept in after him. Fury was standing in the center of the room looking at Tony. Bruce was next to the lab bench that the Tesseract sat on, and Natalie scurried over to stand near him. Fury turned to Steve.

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean we're-"

"I'm sorry, Nick," interrupted Tony, turning a screen towards Fury. On it were plans for what was clearly a missile. "What were you lying?" Steve gave Fury a look that was half sorrow, half contempt.

"I was wrong, Director. The world hasn't changed a bit," he said. Thor and Natasha came in past Natalie. Bruce looked at Natasha.

"Did you know about this?" he asked.

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?" she asked without answering his question. Bruce gave a slightly incredulous laugh

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed," he said.

"Loki's manipulating you," said Natasha warningly.

"And you've been doing what exactly?" he retorted.

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you," replied Natasha.

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy," said Bruce. He turned to Fury. "I'd like to know why S.H.I.E.L.D. is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction." Fury pointed at Thor.

"Because of him," he replied.

"Me?" asked Thor incredulously.

"I thought we were worried about his brother," muttered Natalie.

"Last year we had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that we are not only alone, but we are hopelessly- hilariously- outgunned," elaborated Fury.

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet!" said Thor, annoyed.

"Except your brother," pointed out Natalie.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you?" countered Fury. "And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the Cube?" Steve retorted.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?!" cried Steve

"You forced our hand!" said Fury indignantly. "We had to come up with some-"

"Nuclear deterrent!" interrupted Tony. "'Cause that always calms everything right down!" Despite the tense situation, Natalie sniggered. Fury shot her a glare.

"Well, he's got a point," she said.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" asked Fury pointedly.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep-" Steve started.

"Wait, wait, hold on!" said Tony indignantly. "How is this now about me?"

"I'm sorry, isn't everything?" responded Steve with attitude.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," said Thor. Everyone began shouting over one another. Thor yelled at Fury, Fury yelled back at him, Steve and Tony were arguing.

"Guys…" Natalie pleaded.

"Why are you putting a child in this sort of danger?" said Thor.

"Okay, the next person or god who calls me a child-" Natalie snapped

"She's not in danger here," said Fury

"Oh, but I would be in the world outside? Or the world would be in danger from me?" she directed her words at Fury. He glared at her.

"We don't know what the power of the Tesseract could have done to you-" he began but Natalie cut him off.

"I'm getting really sick of all this secrecy. How long were you planning on keeping me here? What would have happened when this was all over?" The other arguments were dying down as they saw Natalie daring to argue against the director. "Would I have become your lab rat? Would you have incorporated me into Phase Two?" Natalie didn't really mean what she was saying, but she was growing more agitated as her exhaustion and pent-up emotion came to a head. "Loki wants to tear you apart, but he's not even going to have to lift a finger, because with all this fighting you're going to do it for him!" she said, her voice rising almost to a yell.

"Natalie…" said Steve in a calming tone.

"What?" she snapped. He glanced down at her hands. She looked as well. They were glowing bright purple. Her anger ebbed as she clenched her hands into fists. The purple glow faded away.

"Sorry," she muttered. A computer beeped from across the room.

"Got it?" said Fury. Banner nodded and walked over to it.

"Located the Tesseract?" asked Thor.

"I can get there faster," said Tony.

"Look, all of us-" began Steve

"The Tesseract belongs on Asgard, no human is a match for it," Thor interrupted. Tony turned to leave but Steve grabbed his arm.

"You're not going alone!" he said. Tony smacked his hand away.

"You gonna stop me?" he asked.

"Put on the suit, let's find out!" retorted Steve.

"I'm not afraid to hit an old man."

"Put on the suit." Banner had reached the monitor and was looking at it in shock.

"Oh my god…" he muttered.

"What-" Natalie began. She was cut off by the sound of an explosion and the whole room shook. Everyone was sent flying. Natasha, Bruce and Natalie fell through a gaping hole in the floor to a level below. Natalie heard people yelling and running out of the room above. She turned to Natasha, who was lying on the floor, conscious, but her leg was trapped under a large metal pipe.

"You okay?" asked Natalie frantically.

"Yeah," gasped Natasha. Natalie turned to Bruce. He was on his hands and knees, groaning and wincing. He was clenching his hands over and over again and breathing deeply.

"Romanoff! Natalie!" Fury's voice came through their earpieces.

"Okay!" Natasha responded. Natalie crawled over to the pipe and strained to lift it. It had to weigh at least a hundred pounds. They both turned to Bruce. "We're okay, right?" Natasha was not talking to Fury anymore. She looked worried, which told Natalie exactly how bad this was. While Natalie struggled to lift the pipe, Natasha began talking to Bruce. "Doctor? Bruce, you gotta fight it. This is just what Loki wants. We're gonna be okay." Natalie heard footsteps from above. Two men appeared at the lip of the hole.

"You okay?" one of them asked. Natasha waved them away. They looked at Bruce and ran. Natasha continued talking.

"We're gonna be okay, right? I swear on my life I will get you out of this, you will walk away, and never-"

"Your life?" Bruce growled. His voice was deep. He rose up and stumbled away from them, his body expanding and his tan skin turning emerald. His shirt ripped into shreds and his shoes burst as his feet grew out of them.

"Oh, damn," Natalie whispered. The lights flickered off.

"Bruce?" Natasha asked slowly. Natalie heaved the pipe off Natasha's foot as the Hulk turned around. Natasha slowly stood up.

"Run," said Natasha quietly and the two of them sprinted off. Natasha ran towards a flight of metal stairs. Natalie could hear the roars of the Hulk behind them as she sprinted behind Natasha. She stole a glance behind her- and her foot caught on a pipe she had failed to see. She landed on her forearm with a cry of pain. She turned to see the Hulk almost upon her. She held up her hands in front of her in a futile attempt to stop the Hulk. He growled, raising his large fists. Natalie's hands tingled and the same purple glow that had surrounded her hands during her outburst appeared. This time, however, things went a little differently.

The glow strengthened and the purple light began flowing off her hands, coalescing into an ethereal purple wall streaked with silver in front of her. The Hulk's fists smashed into the wall-and rebounded off of it, leaving it almost undamaged, save for a few dents, which slowly filled out to leave the wall whole again. Natalie stared at her hands.

"How long have you been able to do that?" asked Natasha, running back towards Natalie.

"About five seconds," replied Natalie, scrambling to her feet. "Run!" The two of them tore off back towards the staircase. They reached it and flew up two at a time. At the top, hearing the Hulk's roars once again, they risked a glance back at Natalie's wall. As they watched, it began to fade. They began running again. The Hulk tore after them. He reached the stairs and leapt up to their level. Natasha drew one of her guns and fired a shot into a pipe above their heads, releasing a torrent of gas. Undeterred, the Hulk ran through and roughly backhanded Natasha and Natalie into a wall with one huge hand. Frozen in fear, the two huddled against the wall as the Hulk raised a huge fist. Just before he brought it down, he was pushed to the side and through a wall by a red and silver blur. Natalie caught a glimpse of Thor's blond hair in another storage room. She rolled over onto her side and looked over at Natasha. She was shaking and cursing under her breath in Russian. Natalie's arm ached painfully where it had hit the wall and floor. She held it against her chest, trying not to move it. It wasn't broken, but it hurt like hell. The two of them sat in silence. After a few minutes, Natasha spoke.

"What was that? That purple wall?"

"I don't know," muttered Natalie. "I'm more concerned that we almost just got smashed by the Hulk..." Natasha didn't respond.

"It's Barton." Natasha's head snapped up. "He took out our systems. He's headed for the detention lab. Does anybody copy?" Natasha touched her earpiece.

"This is Agent Romanoff. I copy," she replied. She climbed to her feet. "Stay here," she told Natalie. Natalie nodded.

"Right," she confirmed. Natasha ran off. As soon as she had run up a flight of stairs and her footsteps had receded, Natalie scrambled to her feet and took off in the opposite direction. She raced through the maze of storage rooms in the general direction (she hoped) of the cell where Loki was being held. It was surprisingly quiet. All she could hear was her footsteps on the metal floor and her breath loud in her ears. Her arm throbbed as blood raced through it. As she ran, she began to hear the sounds of people talking. One voice was deep. The other was light and smooth. She slowed, listening. She walked up a flight of stairs. The voices grew louder. They were coming from down a hallway to her left. She crept down the hall. Before she reached the end, she could see the cell Loki was being held in. Or had been. He was no longer inside. Instead, Thor was standing near the glass, clutching his hammer. There was a crack in the glass in front of him. Loki was out of the cage, standing near a control panel. But the most surprising aspect of the scene was Agent Coulson, opposite Natalie's hallway, pointing a large gun at Loki. He was talking to Loki.

"…Even I don't know what it does. Do you wanna find out?" He powered up the weapon-and Loki disappeared, reappearing behind Coulson wielding his scepter. He raised it and jabbed it through Coulson's back. Coulson gave a yell and collapsed to the floor, slumping against the wall. Thor cried out, slamming a fist against the glass wall. Natalie almost cried out too, but clapped her hands over her mouth. Fighting back tears, she continued watching as Loki returned to the control panel, flipped the cover off a button and pressing it. The middle of the room opened up, the winds rushing in and tugging at Natalie's hair and clothes. Then the cage-with Thor in it- dropped down through the chute and out the bottom of the ship. This time Natalie couldn't help it.

"NO!" she cried- then once again clapped her hands over her mouth, but too late. Loki closed the chute and turned towards her hallway. All of a sudden she heard a cold, smooth voice behind her.

"Well, well…who do we have here?" Cold fear washed over her. She whirled. Loki stood behind her.

"But-" she turned back. Loki still stood at the control panel. The Loki in the hallway raised his scepter. Without her thinking, Natalie's hands began to glow again and the purple wall erupted in front of her. Loki drove his scepter towards her.

It passed straight through the shield.

Through her leg.

Without her feeling anything.

Natalie waved a hand through the illusion and her heart sank.

"Very nice, my dear," the Loki at the control panel said. The Loki in the hallway shimmered and vanished.

Oops.

Natalie turned to Loki slowly. He was smiling evilly.

"You're gonna lose," she told him. She could hear the lack of conviction in her voice. Loki chuckled.

"Am I?" he questioned. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Coulson struggling with the weapon. She tried to keep Loki's attention on her.

"Yeah, you are. You're the bad guy. The bad guy never wins. Don't you know that?"

"Your heroes are scattered," Loki smirked. "Your floating fortress falls from the sky. Where is exactly is my disadvantage?" Coulson was aiming the weapon.

"You've got stupid motivation," said Natalie. Loki looked affronted.

"I don't think I-" Coulson fired the weapon. A blast of orange fire erupted from the end and threw Loki through a wall.

"So that's what it does," said Coulson weakly. Natalie hurried over to him. He coughed, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. Natalie knelt down, her hands hovering uselessly over the gash in Coulson's torso.

"You'll be okay, we can get a medical team, they can do something…." she faltered.

"Nah…it's bad…." whispered Coulson calmly. "Listen to me…you gotta stay away from Loki at all costs…now he knows what you can do…."

"You-you can't die, S.H.I.E.L.D. needs you!" she cried with a note of hysteria in her voice, tears blurring her vision. Coulson shook his head. Natalie heard footsteps approach behind her and a dark shape knelt down next to her.

"There's nothing you can do here, Miss Fisher," said Fury's voice. Tears now flowed freely down Natalie's cheeks as she stood up.

"I'm sorry," she choked out as she left the detention room. Her feet took her down a quiet hallway. Her mind was numb. She didn't register the footsteps quietly approaching behind her. She only became aware when a green and black leather-clad arm wrapped around her throat.

"You didn't think I'd leave without you, did you, my dear?" said a cold, smooth voice in her ear.

* * *

**_Et voilà!_ A cliffhanger just for you, dear readers! As always, please, _please_ review! You have no idea how much I love hearing your opinions!**

**Until next time...**

**-The Bookworm**


	7. Stark Tower

**I realize I haven't updated in over a month. *winces* I'm sorry. School is crazy. So here is a chapter shorter than the last few, but a chapter all the same.**

Natalie's heart stopped. The hand on her good arm instinctively flew to the arm wrapped around her throat and she twisted in Loki's grip. She froze when she felt a sharp point press into the small of her back.

"Now, now," Loki chided mockingly. "I would rather have you along of your own free will, but if you choose to be difficult with me..." The sharp point left her back and the scepter came around in front of her, the blue gem glowing gently. "...I'll have to help you change your mind." Natalie lowered her hand. The pressure on her windpipe released and Loki switched his grip to her arm. Of course, the injured one. His cold hand was tight around her bicep, increasing the ache already there. Moving around in front of her, Loki stalked down the hallway with Natalie in tow. Natalie only tried to resist once- It was like trying to resist against an elephant. Plus when she dug in her heels Loki gave her arm a painful twist without looking back at her.

Natalie did not know where they were going, but apparently Loki did. He pulled her down several hallways and up flights of stairs. They began to pass agents on their way- but not one made any attempt to stop them. No one even appeared to notice them. Their eyes slid over the pair as though they weren't there. As they began to get close to the deck (which was where Natalie figured Loki's means of escape was) Natalie decided to make a move. As they entered a large open area with several groups of busy agents, Natalie reached over with her free hand and raked her nails across the back of the hand gripping her bicep. Loki hissed but did not release her arm. However, whatever he had been doing to hide them from the SHIELD agents had obviously been halted. All activity around them ceased. Every agent stood still for a second, and them with a flurry of motion everyone pulled out a weapon and trained it on Loki.

"Loki, release her," ordered a male agent Natalie faintly recognized from the bridge. Loki gave a smile, like one would give a dog after it had done a fairly amusing trick.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," he replied calmly. "You see, she's quite valuable to me." He swung his scepter towards Natalie, blue gem glowing, and touched it to her chest. Several agents shouted. Blue light flowed from the gem, up the tip of the scepter and into Natalies chest. It was cold. The cold flooded her veins and she tensed...then relaxed as a strange feeling of calm and relief washed over her._ Everything is under control. Lord Loki is going to- to- nonononono NO Loki is not my lord! He is...he is...the rightful prince-_

"NO!" she shrieked, doubled over, head clutched in her hands. Loki looked slightly puzzled. Natalie's head ached and she couldn't see straight. She felt like she was being pulled in two- between Loki's control and resisting it. Everyone, Loki and agents, was looking at her strangely. The agents seemed unsure whether she was now one of Loki's minions, and Loki, usually the epitome of calm, cool and collected, seemed confused, almost flustered. He obviously was not accustomed to things not going the way he wanted. Natalie couldn't submit- literally. Something was preventing Loki's control from taking hold, but she couldn't fully shake it either. Loki made lifted his scepter, as if to try again, but all the agents prepped their weapons. Loki stopped. Even as an Asgardian, bullets would likely hurt quite a bit.

Suddenly, for the third time, her hands began to glow the now-familiar purple. She couldn't yet control it, it seemed to happen when her emotions were running high. The wall began to form, slightly different this time. It was curved, warped, and it began closing around her in a dome shape. Loki, who had already seen her power and was not stunned like the agents, leapt through the shrinking opening of the dome. The walls met. Natalie sank to the floor. She hadn't slept for...a long time and her mind was exhausted. Safe from the bullets, Loki took her by the arm-her good arm this time-and pulled her to her feet.

"Would you bring this lovely little bubble along as we go, Miss Fisher?" he said. Natalie wanted to drop the dome. She really did. But she didn't know how, and she was too tired to try. Loki began walking towards a hallway, half pulling, half supporting Natalie. The dome moved with them. One agent fired a shot. The bullet bounced off the glowing dome and embedded itself in the ceiling. Two others moved to the doorway Loki was headed for. They placed themselves in the way of the dome. One placed his hand on it, attempting to stop it. Loki fired a blast of energy from his scepter. Instead of bouncing off, the blue light was absorbed into and spread across the dome. The agent yelled and yanked his hand away. Loki stepped forward. The other agent stood his ground. Loki shook his head slightly, and pulled Natalie and the dome forward. The dome, still holding the energy from Loki's scepter, smashed into the agent. He screamed and fell to the floor, clutching his face. Triumphantly, Loki strode past the prone agent and into a hallway, up a flight of stairs, and out onto the deck of the helicarrier. Natalie blinked in the early morning sunlight. Loki began pulling her towards a quinjet with an open hatch, but Natalie just couldn't keep going. She felt unconsciousness trying to claim her, and her dome faded as she fell against Loki and allowed it to.

Natalie came to lying on a soft surface. She blinked and looked around. She was on a couch in a large room. And there was a distinct lack of pain in her arm. She sat up and hesitantly bent it. No , that was weird. She continued to gaze around her surroundings. There was a set of panoramic windows taking up one wall. Up a curved flight of stairs was a small bar. There was a glass door set in the windows leading out onto a slightly curved deck with a circle at the end, like a miniature helicopter landing pad. Below that was glass-ringed balcony and below that... Natalie swung her legs off the couch and stood up. _Oh..._ below that was a very long drop. She was in a very tall building. She looked out the windows again. Loki stood on the balcony, calmly gazing up into the sky as though expecting someone or something. He hadn't noticed that she had awoken yet. Natalie followed his gaze into the sky. She squinted. Something was coming towards the building, flying somewhat erratically. As it drew closer, Natalie could see the red and gold color, somewhat scratched and damaged.

Iron Man.

Tony landed on the circular platform. A mechanical arch rose to frame him. Robot arms began removing pieces of his armor. _So it must be Tony's building,_ Natalie thought. Giving Loki a cool glance, Tony continued towards the glass door. Loki turned and strode along the balcony to another door. Not wanting Loki to see her, Natalie scrambled off the sofa and over to a large potted plant. She crouched down, peering between the large, flat leaves. Loki came through the door. Natalie saw him glance over at the sofa where she had been only moments before. He frowned. Tony came in from the other side, walking behind the bar. Loki looked at him.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," said Loki with a smirk on his face.

"Uh, actually I'm planning to threaten you," replied Tony, a slightly surprised look on his face. Loki gave short laugh.

"You should've left your armor on for that."

"Yeah, it's...seen a bit of mileage," said Tony. "You've got the uh, blue stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?" he asked.

"Stalling won't change anything," said Loki.

"No no no-threatening. No drink? You sure? I'm having one," replied Tony nonchalantly, picking up a glass and a small square bottle. Loki turned toward the window.

"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers," Tony replied while uncorking the bottle. Loki turned back with a puzzled look. Tony shrugged, rolling his eyes. "It's what we call ourselves, 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type of thing," he explained, pouring a small amount of the drink into the glass. Loki grinned, but there was something behind the smile, something like hurt or anger.

"Yes," he said. "I've met them."

"Yeah, it takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But let's do a head count. Your brother, the demigod." Loki huffed and began to slowly pace back and forth. "A super soldier- a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend," Tony continued. Natalie could see him fiddling with something on the counter. "A man with breathtaking anger management skills, a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan," Loki hissed as Tony took a sip of his drink.

"Not a great plan," said Tony after swallowing. He set the glass down and began walking out to the middle of the room where Loki stood. "When they come, and they will, they'll come for you."

"I have an army," said Loki.

"We have a Hulk," retorted Tony. _Yeah...can't argue with that,_ thought Natalie.

"Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off," said Loki in a mockingly querying tone.

"Yeah, you're missing the point. There's no throne. There in no version of this where you come out on top. Now maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us but its all on you. 'Cause if we can't protect the earth you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it," finished Tony, stopping about fifteen feet away from Loki and sipping his drink.

"How will you friends have time for me," began Loki, slowly advancing toward Tony, "When they're so busy fighting you?" He raised his scepter, blue gem glowing, and brought it down towards Tony's chest. There was a clink. Loki looked confused. He tried again, with the same results. Natalie choked back laughter. The expression on Loki's face was priceless.

"This usually works..." Loki murmured.

"Yeah, well, performance issues, you know, one out of four..." said Tony. Loki grabbed him by the throat and tossed him across the floor.

"Tony!" Natalie yelled from behind the plant. _God, Lee, stop _doing_ that!_ Tony groaned something from where he was pulling himself up. Loki looked at her.

"I shall deal with you shortly," he said, then returned his attentions to Tony. Once more he grabbed him.

"You will all fall before me," he hissed, and threw him towards the window. This time, Tony crashed through the glass, yelling something as he dropped out of sight. Natalie could hear something mechanical powering up. She turned toward the sound as Loki whirled to face her. Two panels slid open and a giant red and gold cylindrical capsule rocketed out, crashing into Loki and shooting out the window after Tony. Loki groaned and picked himself off the floor, turning to the shattered window with his scepter held ready. Natalie heard the sound of Iron Man's repulsors and a moment afterward, the red and gold suit lifted into view. Tony's voice came through speakers.

"And there's one other person you pissed off. His name was Phil." Loki lifted his scepter but Tony was faster, firing a repulsor blast into Loki's face. Iron Man's faceplate turned to Natalie.

"You okay, Little Einstein?" Natalie almost rolled her eyes but was too happy to see someone not wanting to kidnap her.

"I'm fine," she said.

"You should get down to the streets," said Tony. "There's an elevator in the hall. I'll have JARVIS turn off the security measures for you. Cap, Tasha and Clint are-"

"Clint?" Natalie asked, confused.

"Yeah, Widow knocked him out and broke Loki's control over him. Anyway, the three of them are working on civilian evacuation and defense. Help clear the people and then get to safety." Suddenly there was a loud noise from outside the window and above them. Tony looked up.

"Right, army," he said to himself, and flew up out of sight. Natalie stood for a second after his abrupt disappearance. Then Loki groaned, and she turned and ran out of the room, not wanting to spend another moment in the room with the god.

**So yeah...shorter chapter. Please review! And also, do you want shorter chapters more frequently or longer chapters maybe a little less frequently?**

**-Ophelia**


	8. Battle

**Well...once again, I apologize for not updating in a month and a half. My excuses? Mainly writer's block, but also a big stupid thesis paper for English. I hate thesis papers. With a fiery, burning passion. But the other day I was doing math homework and somehow that broke the dam holding back all my ideas, so yay for math! So finally, here is the penultimate chapter of _With_ _Great_ _Power!_**

Natalie stepped into the elevator and the doors slid shut behind her. There were no buttons, no key card slot, just a smooth wood wall.

"Hello?" She asked hesitantly.

"Good morning," answered a crisp British voice.

"JARVIS?" Natalie asked.

"Yes. And you are?" responded the voice.

"Um...Natalie. Natalie Fisher. Tony said he'd ask you to turn off the security so I could go down."

"Indeed." said JARVIS, and the elevator began to move smoothly downward.

"JARVIS? Where am I?"

"You are in Stark Tower, New York City, Miss Fisher." said JARVIS.

"Stark Tower? What's going on?"

"Erik Selvig has constructed a device using the Tesseract on the roof. Mr. Stark has already tried to destroy it, with no success."

"Oh." Natalie was silent for a moment. "What's it doing?"

"It is opening a portal to outer space. An extraterrestrial army is entering the city through it."

The Chitauri, remembered Natalie. The elevator slowed and the doors slid open, revealing a spacious modern lobby. Natalie could hear screams coming from outside. She ran across the lobby, pushing through the large glass doors.

She emerged into a scene of chaos. People were leaving their cars in the street and running away from Stark Tower.

"Kid, what the heck are you doing? Get away from there!" she heard several voices shout. She turned around, looking up as she did so. Indeed, there was the STARK logo displayed across the top of the building. Emanating from the top was a bright blue beam that shot hundreds of feet into the sky before spreading out and...Natalie squinted, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. The beam appeared to be making a hole in the sky. Things- the Chitauri- were flying out of the hole and down towards the street. She could see something tiny, red and gold darting around the mouth of the portal firing blue blasts at the Chitauri, but it was clear Tony was overwhelmed. For every aliens he took out, at least one or two would fly through the hole. Many peeled off and swooped down towards the street, firing at cars and buildings. People began pressing towards buildings to take cover. Natalie was almost caught up in a horde of people, but wriggled through the bodies to remain on the street.

"Wait!" she heard a woman scream. "Wait! Noah!" Natalie looked around. The screaming woman was caught in a throng of people, reaching for something behind Natalie. She turned to see a young boy cowering against a car as several aliens dove toward the area. Her instincts took over. She ran to the boy, standing in front of him and holding up her hands._ Please please please I need this!_ She screwed up her eyes, pleading in her mind for the purple wall to form. She opened them when she felt the familiar tingle to see another dome forming around her and the little boy. _Oh god I consciously did it thank you thank you thank you_. And not a moment too soon, for the Chitauri opened fire on them. The bullets-whatever sort they were- flashed against her dome. The boy-Noah-began crying. Keeping one hand on the dome, she crouched down and wrapped an arm around him.  
"Hey...hey..." she said quietly. "It's gonna be alright. But I need you to be brave, okay?"  
"Like Batman?" Noah sniffed. Natalie nodded.  
"Just like Batman," she agreed. She didn't know how she would get him into the diner without endangering all the people inside. She supposed she could reshape the dome, but she wasn't sure she could do that quickly enough-or even do it, for that matter. For the moment, she focused on maintaining the dome. She became aware of a strange sensation, a kind of prickling all over her body, like the pins-and-needles feeling she got when her foot fell asleep. It started small, but slowly grew more and more intense, painful almost. She didn't know what it was but she hoped it didn't stopped soon. It was making it hard to keep the dome up.

Suddenly something flashed through the air, bouncing off the group of Chitauri, knocking the to the ground, and soaring back the way it came, landing in the blue-gloved hand of Captain America. Natalie dropped the dome, noticing the pins-and-needles feeling had disappeared. She scooped up Noah and ran for the diner the people had taken cover in. She could see Noah's mother pressed against the door, tears running down her face. As they neared, she pushed the door open and held out her arms. Natalie placed the boy into them and his mother drew him close, sobbing.

"Thank you, thank you!" she gasped.

"Lee?!" Natalie heard Steve yell. Natalie let go of the diner door and turned in Steve's direction. He came running over.

"What are you doing here?! It's not safe! And how did you get off the helicarrier?" he asked in a rush.

"Oh, well, Loki kidnapped me and took me to Stark Tower but then Tony showed up and they had a really entertaining argument and then Tony got new armor and blasted Loki and I came down here and then you found me," Natalie spilled in one breath. "And there's a battle going on and we can talk later-DUCK!" she yelled, yanking Steve down as he raised his shield above them while a squad of Chitauri flew overhead.

"Listen, you shouldn't be out here! It's dangerous and you could get hurt," said Steve.

"I might not be able to fight like you but you saw what I can do to protect people. I want to help," argued Natalie. Steve, however, was having none of it.

"No. I'm not putting you in any danger. Go with civilians into the subways."

"But-"

"Go, Lee!" Steve said fiercely, his eyes daring her to disagree, as he tossed his shield over her head with a fluid half-spin. Wisely, Natalie retreated to the nearest subway entrance. As she descended, she heard a roar of thunder and lightning crackled overhead, frying a squadron of hovercrafts. Something red and silver soared overhead.

"No way," Natalie breathed. Thor was alive. He landed far down the street where Steve had run to join two figures in black fighting off a large group of Chitauri. When Natalie saw the fiery red hair, she knew it was Natasha and Clint.

There was a break in the action and the group appeared to be talking. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she heard the sound of an engine. She peered over the top of the wall surrounding the staircase to see a lone figure on a motorbike making its way up the street.

It was Bruce.

He dismounted the bike as the group of heroes walked over to him. Conversation was exchanged, ending with Steve speaking into his earpiece. Natalie reached to her ear and found her earpiece was missing, no doubt taken by Loki to prevent her from contacting anyone. The group looked up as one, in the direction Bruce had come from. A tiny figure came flying around a building. Following it was a massive flying beast. It looked like a cross between a weapon and a whale, with armored plating all over its body and fins. Its face was enough to provoke nightmares, with gaping jaws and sharp teeth. It came closer and closer, led by Iron Man. Steve said something to Bruce, who began walking towards the approaching monster, talking to Steve as he did so. He turned away from him and his skin began to change color to the Hulk's emerald. As the transformation finished, the Hulk drew back a fist and punched the creature as it dove toward the group. His feet dug into the ground as the tail of the creature flipped over its head, curling down to the ground and landing with a crash. Tony launched a missile from his armor at the monster and it exploded, showering debris down on the group. Everyone ducked for cover. As the dust settled, the six heroes regrouped into a circle, priming various weapons and looking around. Natalie saw movement out of the corner of her eye and looked up. Hundreds more Chitauri were soaring out of the portal, along with three more of the flying whale things. Luckily, Natasha noticed as well, pointing it out to the group. Everyone turned to Steve. Natalie couldn't hear what they were saying, but at one point, Tony flew off with Clint holding on to his armor, followed by Thor, swinging his hammer, and then Hulk, who roared and leapt up onto the side of a building, smashing and throwing dozens of Chitauri off the building.

Suddenly, something grabbed Natalie by the shirt, hoisting her off the ground. She twisted around as she flew through the air, then was pulled up onto a Chitauri hovercraft with Loki. He smiled at her as a Chitauri jumped onto the back, pointing its weapon at her. She glared at it, then from her sitting position, kicked out with both feet, knocking its legs from under it. It fell from the back of the hovercraft with a screech. Loki looked back briefly, irritated, then forward again as he steered the craft toward Stark Tower. Out of nowhere, he reached up and snatched an arrow out of the air next to his head. He looked off to the left with a mocking smile. Then the arrow exploded. The craft was destroyed. Natalie and Loki were thrown into the air.

Natalie was expecting to very shortly die.

Then she felt a pair of arms wrap around her before they hit the balcony of the tower and her momentum slowed.

She and Loki landed on the balcony together, unharmed, or at least not severely wounded. Loki recovered first, releasing her and looking up on hands and knees. Something green came flying past her crashing into Loki and knocking him through the window into the penthouse. Natalie staggered to her feet, trying to shake off her wooziness from the crash. She looked through the hole in the window and heard Loki's voice.

"ENOUGH!" he shrieked. "You are all of you beneath me!" He looked out the window at Natalie. "I heal you, I save your life, and this is how I am repaid?" He looked back at the Hulk. "I am a god, you dull creature, and I will not be bullied by-" He was cut off as Hulk grabbed him around the ankles and smashed him repeatedly into the floor.

Natalie couldn't help but laugh.

The Hulk threw Loki into the ground a final time and lumbered away.

"Puny god," Natalie thought she heard him say. He jumped back out of the hole in the window and landed in front of Natalie, regarding her curiously.

"You make purple," he rumbled. "Hulk no smash purple. Purple girl go back down?" Natalie was shocked. But...

"Uh, a-actually, Hulk, I need to go up. To the roof of the tower. C-can you help me with that?" The Hulk nodded and reached out, wrapping a huge hand gently around her waist. Cradling her against his body, he made a huge leap, landing on the roof. He set he down and jumped off, soaring several hundred yards to another building. Natalie turned around to see Natasha clutching Loki's scepter and Dr. Selvig at a laptop, both staring at her strangely.

"I needed a lift," she said simply. She looked at the large machine occupying the center of the roof. It was somewhat spherical, with the Tesseract suspended in the center. Surrounding it was a globe of shimmering energy, similar to what she put out.

"We though the barrier was unbreachable, but Selvig says he built in a safety while he was under Loki's control," explained Natasha, holding up the scepter.

"The Tesseract can't protect against itself," elaborated Selvig from his position behind the laptop. Natalie nodded. "Ready?" Selvig turned to Natasha. She touched her comlink.

"I can close it. Does anybody copy? I can shut the portal down!" She listened, raised the scepter, then paused as though someone had told her otherwise. She listened for a moment more, then lowered the scepter.

"Tony had an idea. It's crazy but it might work."

"What was-" started Natalie, before she was interrupted by a roar, growing louder before Tony shot up past the roof, clutching a missile over his head, rocketing toward the portal.

"What is he DOING?!" yelled Natalie. Tony disappeared through the hole. Natalie glanced down. The remaining whale thing shorted out, flashing blue, and fell onto a building. The tiny forms of the battling Chitauri collapsed to the ground. Natasha stared up at the portal.

"Come on, Stark," she murmured. There was no sign of Tony in the mouth of the portal. Natasha looked at Natalie and Selvig. "Steve said close it." Selvig nodded. Natasha thrust the spear through the barrier. From the other side, Natalie placed her hands on the barrier and pushed. Slowly, her hands began to pass through. She reached for the Tesseract. Just as the the scepter stabbed it, she grabbed it and pulled. Like pulling something out of a tar pit, it slowly shifted from its position in the center of the portal device. All of a sudden, with a crackle of energy, it snapped out of its place. Natalie stumbled backwards, still hanging onto it. All three looked up. The blue beam had vanished, leaving the portal hole roiling and shrinking. Tony had not yet reappeared. The three of them stood silently, staring upwards. Just as the mouth of the portal closed, something slipped through. Natalie could see the red and gold. She let out a whoop.

"He did it!" They watched smiling, as Tony drew closer. Then the smile slipped from Natalie face as an awful realization struck her.

"Something's wrong. He's not flying...he's falling." Tony fell past the roof of the tower. They rushed to the edge and looked over.

"Thor better see this..." said Natasha. Natalie nodded.

Quite suddenly, Tony's downward trajectory was interrupted by something large and green. The Hulk crashed into the side of a building, dragging along it to slow his fall. He hit the ground far below and set Tony down. It was impossible to tell what was happening from so far away. They watched in silence. The whole city was silent-but only for a minute, before it was shattered by the Hulk's roar. Natalie squinted.

"I think...I think Tony's moving!" Natasha let out a breath.

"So...now what?" asked Natalie after a moment.

"Now? Now we go after Loki."

**So...whatcha think? Also, I put up a poll on my profile involving Steve and Natalie and I need your help in a decision. It'll be up until the final chapter of this story is published.**

**And Natalie's story won't end there... **

**There is a sequel in the making!**

**And a three-quel shall follow! The basics for those are also on my profile.**

**So it'd really mean a lot if you'd take the brief time to cast a vote and review.**

**_À tout a l'heure!_ (See you later!)**

**-Ophelia**


	9. Aftermath

**Wow. It's finally done. Nine chapters, almost six months and more than 21,000 words. Not to mention all of the readers, reviewers, followers and favorite-ers! You guys rock. Seriously, thank you so much for all your support. So, without further ado, here is the final chapter of _With Great Power._**

**P.S. I realized I haven't been putting a disclaimer on a bunch of my chapters. I don't own the Avengers. If I owned the Avengers I wouldn't be writing Fanfiction. I'd be Joss Whedon, God of the Nerds. But I'm not.**

The Avengers found Loki exactly where Hulk had left him, picking himself off the floor. Entering through the broken window, they stood behind him as he slowly raised himself on his hands. Sensing them, he froze, then slowly turned his head. Turning around and sitting back down he sighed.

"If it's all the same to you...I'll have that drink now." Hulk growled.

Things happened very fast after that. SHIELD was called in to begin cleanup of the city, gathering the bodies of the aliens and their weapons.

Surprisingly, there had been very few casualties. There were a few citizens who had not reached shelter in time. There were lots of injuries, including some on the team. Natalie saw Steve being treated for a nasty burn on his side. Natalie guessed he had been hit with a blast from a Chitauri gun. There were cuts and bruises all around. Clint's arms and back were covered in tiny lacerations like he'd been thrown through a window. Bruce, unsurprisingly, looked unscathed and was helping the medics. Tony had it the worst- going into space had taken a greater toll on him than he had let on. He was pale and shaky, and the medics treating the Avengers at the Tower had him lying on a couch hooked up to an oxygen mask. Tony only stayed on the couch because a pretty redheaded woman had told him to. Natalie later learned that her name was Virginia Potts, but everyone called her Pepper. Thor had disappeared off to who-knows-where but that evening he returned to the tower with Loki in tow. Loki wore a metal gag and his hands were cuffed in front of him. Thor handed him over to SHIELD agents who placed him in a new holding cell somewhere for the night while Thor worked with Selvig on a new project. That night, Tony took the six Avengers and Natalie to a restaurant called Shawarma Palace. The small diner was empty and many things inside it were broken and covered in dust and plaster. There was very little conversation during the meal.

The next day, the six Avengers, Loki, and Natalie set off for Central Park, joined on the way by Selvig, who carried a briefcase, and several SHIELD agents. When they reached the park, they located a small footbridge. The SHIELD agents formed a perimeter around the area. Tony opened the briefcase, offering it to Natalie. She lifted the Tesseract out of its slot and turned to Selvig, who held a glass cylinder with a handle on each end. She gently placed the Tesseract into the cylinder and Selvig closed it. He handed it to Thor and shook his hand. Thor nodded to the group the turned to Loki. Loki took the other end of the cylinder. He stared at the group-Natalie in particular. Part of his face was obscured by the gag, but his green eyes were full of...remorse?

And wait...green eyes? They had been blue on the helicarrier...

Before Natalie could say anything, Loki twisted his end of the cylinder. The device lit up with the familiar blue, and the two Asgardians dissolved into blue light, which soared into the sky and vanished. Some of the people in the park might wonder what they had been seeing, but then again...this was New York, after all.

Later that evening, Natalie was sitting out on Tony's suit-down pad, her legs dangling off the edge. She gazed out at the bright city, at the damage visible from her height, at the holes in the buildings, the piles of rubble on the streets. She could see where the letters on the tower had previously spelled out Tony's name had been. Most had fallen off, leaving the "A" in the middle.

"Miss Fisher." A voice broke through her thoughts. Natalie turned her head. Fury stood a ways down the platform. Tony stood just inside the door. He shrugged in a_ what was I supposed to do?_ way. Natalie stood up.

"Director," she replied.

"I'm here to discuss your near future," he said briskly.

"Um...what about it?" asked Natalie.

"As you of course know by now, you possess a great deal of energy from the Tesseract. If you recall our conversation aboard the Helicarrier, I believe you were concerned about becoming a SHIELD "lab rat." Natalie blushed as she recalled her argument with Fury.

"Yeah...I'm sorry I was yelling...I was exhausted and frustrated and it just took one little thing..."

"It's all right, Miss Fisher. I assure you, SHIELD won't turn you into an experiment. But we do want to be able to monitor your situation in case something happens, like a negative reaction to the energy in the future. That's why SHIELD thinks Stark Tower should become your new place of residence. Same with Doctor Banner-I've already had a similar discussion with him. We've already discussed with Mr. Stark as well, and he's open to the idea." Natalie was stunned.

"Live here? I- I- what about- I mean, I'm a minor. I'm still technically..you know...an orphan. Not that I don't want to live here. But-"

"SHIELD is arranging things with the state. We're transferring legal guardianship to the agency until you're eighteen, and you have our permission to take up residence at Stark Tower," replied Fury. Natalie felt tears prickling in the corners of her eyes and she felt the strange urge to throw her arms around Fury. She refrained. That would just be really awkward. Instead, she simply thanked Fury, shaking his hand.

"You're welcome, Miss Fisher," he replied, turning and striding back into the penthouse where construction workers were hanging plastic sheets and setting up buckets, already beginning repair work on the tower. Natalie stood stunned on the platform for a moment, then ran inside after him. Tony gave her a smile, devoid of its usual cockiness and attitude, just a happy, welcoming smile. In a move that surprised herself, she wrapped her arms around him. Tony was definitely not expecting it, but after a moment returned the hug. After a few seconds, Tony let go and stepped back.

"You know, I was thinking about asking the rest of the group to live here. Fury kind of gave me the idea. We could make it Avenger Tower, or something."

"Well, the tower's already got the label," Natalie replied, recalling the single "A" on the building. "I think it'd be great."

And Tony did just that.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

The news the following day was filled with interviews with New Yorkers. Natalie wasn't really paying attention until she heard a voice she faintly recognized. She looked over at the T.V. The woman whose son she had rescued from the Chitauri was on screen.

"There was this girl, I don't know who she was, I don't even remember what she looked like, but she saved my son. I just want to thank her and the Avengers for everything they did." Natalie felt a little warm glow in her chest. Tony glanced over at her with a little grin on his face.

"You wouldn't happen to know who this girl is, would you?" Natalie blushed.

"It...may have been me..." Tony chuckled.

"You know, you're part of the Avengers family now, and above that, living at Stark Tower. You're going to get some press attention. It may seem strange but you can bet you're not the only one who won't enjoy it."

"I can't imagine any of the Avengers but you are really used to the press," Natalie agreed. Tony chuckled.

"Can you imagine Capsicle faced with the paparazzi?"

"What's a paparazzi?" Natalie and Tony turned toward the door. Steve stood in the doorway with a confused look on his face.

"It's one of the many things we have yet to teach you. Paparazzi are photographers who don't have any sort of journalism training and don't work for a newspaper or magazine. They usually follow celebrities around and take picture trying to catch them doing something weird or try to expose big things that aren't necessarily true," Natalie explained. "Some celebrities even file restraining orders against them because they're so annoying."

"Are we considered celebrities?" asked Steve.

"Yeah, probably. Well, Tony already was," Natalie acknowledged.

"Don't worry, you two. Soon you'll be accustomed to living the life of Tony Stark-and the ups and downs that come with it," reassured Tony. "You're going love it here!"

**Once again, thank you guys so much. And keep your eyes open for the next installment, which I have decided to expand from what was on my profile if you checked that out. I'm going to try a one-shot collection about holidays at Avenger Tower. They will be chronological, starting after WGP, so probably Halloween, followed by Thanksgiving, then Christmas et cetera, et cetera. If you have any ideas for what should happen during a holiday, PM them to me and I will try to incorporate them. I'll put up a little alert on this story when the first chapter of _Holiday One-Shots_ is up. Which should be soon because spring break is in three days! Yay for vacation! So until _HOS_!**


	10. Epilogue

**So, I got a review from callieandjack (thank you, by the way) a few days ago that kind of reminded me that I'd never actually explained how the Tesseract's energy got into the lightning that started it all. So here is an epilogue that ties up a few loose ends and feels like more of a final ending than the previous chapter. I also feel like I haven't really acknowledged reviewers very well and I really am thankful for all of your kind words! So in my next story, if I get a review from you, I'll try and send you a PM thanking you for it. So enjoy my little epilogue!**

That night, Natalie entered her new room at Stark Tower. It was very purple. Purple bedspread, purple pillows, purple walls, purple curtains. She curled her bare toes into the fuzzy rug, enjoying the softness. A bathroom was attached. She had a desk, dresser, and a multitude of bookshelves, all made of the same shiny light brown wood. The bookshelves were what she loved most. They were filled with books, both old ones recovered from the foster home, and new ones from an expedition to a large bookstore with Tony-her residence at the Tower was no secret to the public now. She let out a content sigh. Everything was dying down. She had called Amy and explained her absence. Amy had been worried out of her mind when Natalie's phone stopped taking calls and texts and she hadn't responded to any emails. Natalie assured (and reassured and reassured) Amy of her safety approximately seventeen times during the conversation and the two made plans to get together and do something. The girls promised each other it would work out this time. Natalie sat down on her bed with her copy of Catching Fire and took out her bookmark. She hadn't gotten more than four pages, however, when there was a small /pop/ next to her. She looked to her right. Lying on her pillow was a piece of paper-no, parchment was a better word. It was slightly yellow and curled up a bit around the top and bottom. It was covered in a beautiful script, written in green ink. She picked it up.

_Dear Ms. Fisher_

_I would first like to offer my deepest apologies for the damage I caused in your city. I was not fully in control of myself. Just as I controlled the agents and scientists, I myself was being controlled. I cannot say much else about that in this letter-the creature who was controlling me is dangerous beyond anything you or the Avengers know. However, that is not my full reason for writing._

_I am sure you were told by your agency that the lightning strike delivered the Tesseract's power to you, but even they do not know how it came to be there. I manipulated the Tesseract, causing it to release a large amount to energy. This was to be my fallback solution if I was unable to retrieve the Tesseract. I was not planning to take you. I was in possession of the Tesseract and had no need for you. My master thought otherwise._

_I realize that after the pain and suffering I have caused you it will be difficult for you to believe me. Please just know that I am truly sorry._

The letter was not signed, but it was not hard to guess who it was from. Natalie read and re-read the letter. _I am truly sorry_. She didn't know what to make of it. Was he lying? He was correct in thinking trust wouldn't come easily. She contemplated the letter some more, then slipped it into her desk drawer and returned to her book.


	11. Just a tiny update

Hi guys! I just wanted to let you know that the first chapter of Holiday One-Shots is up! Enjoy it!


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